PORTSMOUTH, Va. — For the first time, Portsmouth police are using a new Virginia law to charge a suspected drug dealer in a fatal overdose case.
Jessica Cirilli, 41, of Suffolk, is charged with involuntary manslaughter following the death of 17-year-old James Jolley, who died from a fentanyl-related overdose.
The charge was made possible by a new state law that allows prosecutors to charge suspected drug dealers with involuntary manslaughter if the drugs they sell are linked to someone’s death.
The law, passed during the General Assembly session earlier this year, took effect in July.
“It’s actually an honor for the department, for us to be able to use this statute,” said Portsmouth Police Homicide Detective Gino Jackson. “Now, there’s a little bit more hope for those families.”
Jackson says the new statute gives police and prosecutors more flexibility in building cases, especially involving fentanyl, which he calls “so dangerous.”
Before this law, Jackson says, prosecuting someone for a drug-induced death was not easy on the state level.
In Jolley’s case, police say they were able to link Cirilli to the fentanyl that caused his death. Investigators say they still need strong evidence and witness cooperation to bring charges.
“Just because someone dies of an overdose, it's not always a guarantee that we'll be able to take charges out,” Jackson said. “There’s certain criteria that has to be met.”
WTKR spoke with Jolley’s grandmother, Angie Godfrey, who shared the heartbreaking moment she found him unresponsive.
“I ran in his room, and I found him dead,” Godfrey said.
Jackson says while this is the department’s first time using the law to bring state charges in a fentanyl-related death, they’ve previously worked similar cases on the federal level.
The goal, he says, is to pursue justice higher up the drug supply chain, where accountability is often elusive.
Portsmouth police are also urging parents to speak with their children about the dangers of fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
