Florida's Drug-Induced Homicide Law Explained: You Sold Drugs and Someone Died. Now What?

Who should read this: Anyone who sells, distributes, or shares controlled substances in Florida. That includes street-level dealers, casual sellers between friends, and people who simply hand someone else's drugs to a third party. If someone died after using drugs that passed through your hands, you may already be a homicide suspect under Florida law.

A young man sitting alone at a metal table in a dimly lit room, staring at a small bag of white powder, noir illustration

In Florida, selling or even handing off a small amount of a controlled substance can turn into a first-degree murder case the moment someone dies.

Jasveen Sangha, known to her customers as the "Ketamine Queen," was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison for selling the drugs that killed Matthew Perry. She supplied ketamine that passed through two middlemen before Perry's personal assistant injected him with a fatal dose in October 2023. Five defendants were charged. Sangha drew the longest sentence.

The case is being played in a federal courtroom in Los Angeles under federal drug statutes. Most people caught in a similar situation in Florida are not going to face federal charges. They face state charges. And Florida's approach to drug-death cases is aggressive in its own right.

Here is how Florida law treats a sale or delivery of drugs when someone dies from using them.

Florida's Drug-Induced Homicide Statute

Florida does not have a specific statute called "drug-induced homicide." What Florida has is worse: it prosecutes these cases as first-degree murder.

Under Florida Statute Section 782.04, a killing that occurs during the commission of a felony drug offense qualifies as felony murder. The relevant predicate felony is drug trafficking under Florida Statute Section 893.135. This means that if you sold or delivered a controlled substance, and that delivery was the proximate cause of someone's death, prosecutors can charge you with first-degree murder.

The statutory maximum for first-degree murder in Florida is life in prison. Depending on the facts, prosecutors can also seek the death penalty, though that is uncommon in drug delivery cases.

⚖️ Key Legal Point

You do not have to intend to kill anyone. You do not have to know the person was going to die. Under felony murder theory, if you committed the underlying drug offense and someone died as a result, the intent element for murder is legally satisfied.

What the State Has to Prove

To secure a conviction under the felony murder theory in a drug death case, the prosecution typically needs to establish:

You sold, delivered, or provided a controlled substance to the victim or to someone in the supply chain.
That substance was the proximate cause of the victim's death.
The underlying transaction constitutes a felony drug offense under Florida law.

Close-up of a toxicology report, evidence bag, and chain of custody paperwork spread on a dark desk, noir style

Proximate cause is where these cases get contested, toxicology reports, intervening users, and the time between transaction and death all become points of attack.

Proximate cause is where these cases often get contested. If the victim used multiple substances, if significant time passed between the transaction and the death, or if a third party's actions intervened before the death, a competent defense team can challenge whether your actions legally caused the outcome.

The Perry case shows how far prosecutors will stretch the causation argument. Sangha supplied ketamine to a middleman, who sold it to another middleman, who gave it to Perry's personal assistant, who then injected Perry multiple times over multiple days. That is a long chain. Federal prosecutors still argued her supply was the legal cause of death, and the court agreed. Florida prosecutors will make the same argument.

How Florida Classifies Drug Offenses That Lead to Death

Not every drug death prosecution runs through felony murder. Florida prosecutors have additional tools.

Florida Statute Section 893.135 covers trafficking, which applies based on quantity thresholds, not based on whether money changed hands. Many people are surprised to learn that sharing or giving drugs away can still constitute trafficking if the amounts are large enough.

For deaths involving specific substances, prosecutors will also look at whether the substance meets trafficking thresholds:

Cannabis: 25 pounds or 300 plants triggers trafficking.
Cocaine: 28 grams or more.
Heroin and opioids: 4 grams or more.
Fentanyl: 4 grams or more, with mandatory minimums starting at 3 years and escalating to life depending on quantity.
Methamphetamine: 14 grams or more.

These thresholds matter because if the amount involved qualifies as trafficking, you have committed the predicate felony that supports a first-degree murder charge if someone dies.

For smaller amounts that do not meet trafficking thresholds, prosecutors can still charge delivery of a controlled substance causing death under Section 893.13(1)(a), which carries up to 30 years in prison as a second-degree felony when a death is involved.

❓Can I be charged with murder in Florida if I only gave someone a small amount of drugs as a friend?

Yes. Florida's felony murder rule does not require a sale or a trafficking quantity, only that the underlying drug offense be a felony. A simple delivery of a controlled substance is a felony in Florida. If the person dies and prosecutors can establish proximate cause, the charge can escalate to first-degree murder regardless of whether money changed hands or whether you considered yourself a dealer.

What Makes Florida Cases More Dangerous Than You Think

By the time a detective knocks on the door in a drug-death case, the phones, messages, and financial records are usually already subpoenaed. The case is often built before the suspect knows there is one.

Florida detectives executing a search warrant at a residence at night, dramatic noir lighting

A few things about Florida cases that clients never expect:

Mandatory minimums take the judge out of the equation. Once a jury convicts on a trafficking count, the judge's hands are largely tied. A death in the mix means prosecutors have room to push for decades, and they usually do, regardless of a defendant's record or background.

You do not have to be the one who administered the drugs. The Perry case makes this clear. Sangha was several steps removed from the actual injection. Florida prosecutors apply the same reasoning. If drugs you sold or shared passed through multiple hands before someone died, the chain traces back to you.

Digital evidence is almost always already collected by the time anyone knows they are a suspect. Investigators pull phones, messages, and financial records early. By the time a detective shows up at the door, they have often already built the case.

Co-defendants cooperate. In cases with multiple people in a supply chain, prosecutors offer the best deals to the first people who come in. The person who waits typically gets the harshest outcome. This is not speculation. It is how these cases resolve, time after time.

The Perry Case Sentencing Breakdown

The range of sentences in the Perry matter illustrates how cooperation, role in the offense, and causation assessments all affect outcomes:

Dr. Salvador Plasencia, a physician who illegally sold ketamine to Perry: sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison.
A second doctor who supplied Plasencia: sentenced to 8 months of home detention.
Jasveen Sangha, the street-level dealer who supplied the fatal dose: sentenced to 15 years.
Two middlemen who acted as go-betweens: awaiting sentencing as of this writing.

Overhead view of a prosecutor's desk covered with felony murder indictment paperwork, toxicology reports, and Florida statute books, noir illustration

The gap between Sangha's 15-year sentence and the 8-month home detention handed to the supplying physician is a warning: causation admissions and role in the offense drive these outcomes more than anything else.

The gap between Sangha's sentence and everyone else's reflects two things: she was closest to the actual supply, and her plea agreement specifically acknowledged that her conduct caused Perry's death. That admission locked in the causation argument prosecutors needed to push for 15 years. The doctors and middlemen who acknowledged lesser roles got lesser sentences.

Florida prosecutors are watching this case. Expect similar charging decisions and sentencing arguments in Florida drug-death cases going forward.

What Should You Do If You Are Under Investigation

If law enforcement has contacted you, if you know someone died after using substances you provided, or if you have already been approached by investigators, the window to affect the outcome is now. Not after charges are filed. Not after an arrest. Now.

Here is what that means practically:

Do not speak to law enforcement without an attorney present. Anything you say about the transaction, the victim, or your knowledge of their drug use will be used against you.
Do not contact other people who may be involved. Coordinating stories or asking others to delete messages is obstruction and generates new charges. Sangha called her co-defendant and told him to delete their Signal messages. That fact became part of the prosecution's case against her.
Preserve your own records carefully. Your attorney needs to know what evidence exists before investigators do.
Consult an attorney who has actual experience with drug-induced death cases. The strategy that works in a simple possession case does not apply here.

🛡️ Defense Strategy

The difference between a first-degree murder conviction and a negotiated outcome in a Florida drug-death case is almost always made in the pre-arrest window. Once an indictment is filed, charging decisions harden and co-defendants start lining up to cooperate. The client who retains experienced counsel before the arrest has leverage the client who waits never sees.

❓What's the difference between a federal drug-death prosecution and a Florida felony murder charge?

Federal prosecutors use 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1) 'death resulting' enhancements, which carry a 20-year mandatory minimum. Florida uses its felony murder rule under F.S. 782.04, which exposes defendants to life in prison and, in rare cases, the death penalty. Florida cases also rely heavily on state trafficking thresholds under F.S. 893.135, which carry their own mandatory minimums. For most people selling or sharing drugs in Florida, state court is the more likely, and often the more punitive, forum.

Our Team Has Handled These Cases

Aaron M. Cohen has represented clients facing Florida trafficking charges, felony murder theories, and overdose-death investigations. In these cases, the right move in week one is worth more than everything that happens after the indictment.

Aaron M. Cohen, Florida criminal defense attorney, reviewing felony murder case files in his office, noir illustration

At AMC Defense Law, we have represented clients facing drug trafficking charges, felony murder allegations, and investigations tied to overdose deaths. These cases require early, aggressive intervention. The difference between a first-degree murder conviction and a negotiated outcome, or an acquittal, often comes down to decisions made before charges are even filed.

We have seen clients walk away from these investigations with reduced charges. We have won acquittals where the government could not establish causation or where the evidence chain had gaps the prosecution could not close. Every case turns on its own facts, but the pattern is consistent: clients who came to us before an arrest had more options than those who waited until after.

If you or someone you know is facing this situation in Florida, contact our office today. The earlier we get involved, the more we can do.