Manslaughter Charge in `Ecstasy' Death
date: 26-April-2004
source : THE MERCURY NEWS
country: UNITED STATES
keyword: ECSTASY
The 17-year-old boy who allegedly supplied the drug ``ecstasy'' to a Belmont girl who died in April after taking the drug will face an additional charge of involuntary manslaughter.
San Mateo County prosecutors filed the amended petition Friday after receiving word from pathologists that Irma Perez, 14, would have lived had she gotten medical help sooner, according to District Attorney Jim Fox.
Fox said the boy, whom the Mercury News is not naming because of his age, was called to the home where Irma and two friends took the drug after Irma became ill. ``He was aware that she was in distress and in fact didn't do anything to try to protect her,'' Fox said.
Fox said prosecutors are still weighing whether to upgrade charges against the two girls, who have been charged with providing the drug and with permitting a child to suffer because they didn't summon help promptly.
A fourth person -- Antonio Rivera, 20, accused of seven felony drug and conspiracy counts in the case -- does not face manslaughter charges because he was not at the party when Irma became sick, Fox said.
Irma and the two girls apparently were experimenting with the drug during a slumber party in April.
The parents hosting the sleepover on the 2500 block of Lincoln Avenue in Belmont called for help after they discovered Irma on Saturday morning and called for help. She was in critical condition until her family took her off life support several days later.
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