A Manteo woman has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the drug-related death of a Kitty Hawk woman in June 2019.
Clara Jane Williams, 27, was convicted Thursday in Dare County Superior Court for selling heroin laced with Fentanyl to Caitlin Elise Palmiter, 28, who died June 18, 2019, according to the Kitty Hawk Police Department.
“In December of 2019, the Death by Distribution of Certain Controlled Substances Act came into effect. Individuals under this act can be charged with Second Degree Murder,” according to a post on the Kitty Hawk Police Department’s Facebook page.
Williams was sentenced to between 17 and 30 months in state prison.
She is the second Dare County resident to be convicted this week on a charge related to drug dealing that results in death.
Gregory Wynn of Manteo was sentenced Monday to between 21 and 27 years in state prison after pleading guilty to the second degree murder of Wanda Montague, 47, of Wanchese.
Wynn admitted to selling Fentanyl-laced heroin to Montague in 2017.
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services reported that in 2018 opioids killed 1,718 N.C. residents and sent 6,769 to the emergency room with an overdose.
Another 3,372 who overdosed on opioids — primarily Heroin and Fentanyl — were saved by police and emergency workers equipped with the overdose-reversal drug, Naloxone.
According to a recent report, last year was the first time in several years that state officials recorded fewer opioid-related overdose deaths and emergency room visits.
