Jaquan Casserly, of Holbrook, sentenced to 10 years in Chelsey Murray's drug overdose death

A Holbrook man accused of selling fentanyl to a Lake Grove woman who died from a fatal overdose in 2022 was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement.

Jaquan Casserly, 34, pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance in April. Tierney said Casserly sold Chelsey Murray, 31, a “deadly mix of heroin and fentanyl” on Aug. 17, 2022.

Prosecutors said Murray was found unresponsive in the bathroom by her mother, Sue Murray, on Aug. 18, 2022. Police were called to the residence and Murray was administered Narcan, which reverses the effects of fentanyl and other opioids. Murray regained a pulse and was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, but she died several days later as a result of the overdose, Tierney said.

Casserly’s attorney, Christopher Brocato of Central Islip, said his client pleaded guilty to spare Murray's family the trauma of reliving her death at trial. He said Casserly was an addict who sold drugs to support his own habit and had used the same fentanyl and heroin mix that killed Murray.

“He never intended for this to happen,” Brocato said of Casserly. “Under the fog of being high, he didn't realize what the consequences could be.”

Casserly was sentenced in Riverhead by Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski.

An undercover Suffolk police detective contacted Casserly following Murray’s hospitalization and arranged for a sale of drugs. Casserly sold the detective a combination of heroin and fentanyl contained in a red glassine envelope. Police said the envelope was similar to the one that Murray’s father, Gene Murray, found in the bathroom where she overdosed.

Police executed a search warrant at Casserly’s Holbrook home on Aug. 27, 2022, and recovered a combination of heroin and fentanyl, a digital scale used to weigh narcotics and red and black glassine envelopes used to package narcotics. The red envelopes were similar to the one sold to the undercover detective.

Officers also found a pair of metal knuckles and Casserly’s cellphone, Tierney said. A search of the phone showed he had arranged to meet Murray on Aug. 17, 2022, offering to sell her “fetty mix,” a street term used to describe a mix of fentanyl and heroin.

Tierney urged New York lawmakers to pass “Chelsey’s Law,” which would allow prosecutors to charge drug dealers with manslaughter or aggravated manslaughter for knowingly selling a drug that causes a fatal overdose. Gene and Sue Murray joined Tierney and other families who have lost loved ones to fatal overdoses to lobby lawmakers in January to pass the law.

“This defendant is responsible for cutting a 31-year-old woman’s life short by selling her a deadly mix of fentanyl and heroin,” Tierney said. “His conviction and sentence remove a dangerous individual from the streets of Suffolk County, but there is more work to be done.”