Man gets 12 to 24 years in fatal overdose case

Albert Lynch, 50, of Tilton, will spend at least the next nine years in prison for selling fentanyl to a man who overdosed on the opioid drug and died as a result.

Lynch was sentenced to 12 to 24 years in prison on a charge of sale of a controlled drug with death resulting. He received credit for the 995 days he has spent in the Belknap County Jail since his arrest Jan. 25, 2020.

Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Leonard said Lynch’s failure to help the victim as he was writhing in the throes of death on the floor of Lynch’s apartment weighed heavily on the sentence she imposed.

“He could have rendered aid. That he didn’t compounded the situation,” Leonard said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing in Belknap Superior Court.

The sentence handed down was shorter than the prison term the prosecution asked for, but longer than what the defense requested.

Lynch was convicted following a three-day trial in mid-September.

Deputy Belknap County Attorney Keith Cormier had asked the court to sentence Lynch to 15 to 30 years on the main charge, with credit for the 995 days of pretrial confinement.

Cormier noted that the sentence he was recommending was comparable to what other defendants received after being tried and convicted of the same charge.

Lynch’s behavior was more deplorable than that of the other defendants, Cormier said, because of his failure to help the victim in any way.

“This case is more egregious because in the other cases the defendant was not present when the victim died,” Cormier said. “But in this case, for 30 minutes the victim is gasping on the floor gurgling while Mr. Lynch goes about his business ... cooking and eating his dinner.”

Lynch’s actions, as well as those of the victim that night of Jan. 24-25, 2020, were captured by a security camera inside Lynch’s Tilton apartment.

Lynch’s attorney, public defender Julia Nye, asked that her client be sentenced to five to 10 years in prison, explaining there were mitigating factors to why he acted the way he did the night the victim died.

Lynch’s sister, Lauran Raduazo, told the court that her brother had suffered three traumatic brain injuries. The first occurred when he was in third grade when he suffered a lack of oxygen to the brain during a tonsillectomy. As a result of that injury, Raduazo said her brother reads and writes only at a third-grade level. The second injury occurred when, at age 24, he was hit over the head with a 2-by-4. Six years later he was badly injured in a motorcycle accident in which, in addition to the brain injury, he suffered a shattered pelvis.

She said that her brother suffers from mood disorders, has been diagnosed as bipolar, and has a loss of cognitive function. He also became addicted to drugs as a result of the constant pain from the injury, though he is now sober. 

“He is in front of you today suffering. Do what is in Albert’s best interest rather than add another roadblock,” Raduazo said, at times her voice choking with emotion.

Cormier told the judge that the prosecution had received no information about Lynch’s medical or psychiatric history.

He cited a 2009 case in which the trial judge said the state’s drug-induced homicide law was enacted to provide a deterrence to providing potentially fatal drugs to others.

“The Legislature intended there would be serious consequences” to this kind of activity, Cormier said

In deciding the sentence, Leonard said she had considered the nature of the crime, and noted the victim was a veteran, a father and had a fiancee.

She said another factor was watching the 30 minutes of surveillance video that showed the victim — a 38-year-old Gilmanton resident — thrashing on the floor in the minutes immediately prior to his death.

In a brief statement prior to the sentence being imposed, Lynch told the judge, “I am very sorry about my actions of that evening.”

As part of the sentence, Leonard ordered that Lynch be evaluated by prison officials for any appropriate substance-abuse programs. Six months of his minimum sentence could be suspended if he successfully completes whatever program he participates in.

In addition to the main charge, Lynch received suspended prison sentences for charges of possession of drugs with intent to sell and falsifying evidence. Those suspended sentences will take effect once he concludes his prison sentence on the main charge. On a misdemeanor charge of breach of bail, Lynch was sentenced to 12 months, which will run concurrently with the homicide charge.