SAN DIEGO (CNS) — A San Diego man was sentenced Monday to 20 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl that led to the death of a 25-year-old El Cajon man.
Perry Edward Davis, 46, was convicted by a federal jury last year for selling the drugs that led to the Dec. 21, 2019, death of Joshua Chambers, a father of two.
Chambers and two other people collapsed outside QuarterDeck Cocktails, prosecutors said, and while two of the victims recovered, Chambers died about an hour later.
According to prosecutors, the victims were using cocaine, which was found through laboratory testing to be mixed with fentanyl.
About an hour before the victims overdosed, Davis -- who was Chambers' regular cocaine dealer -- sold Chambers the drugs near the defendant's Clairemont home, prosecutors said.
Davis' attorneys contended there wasn't sufficient evidence to show Davis had sold Chambers the fentanyl, and alleged the death may have resulted from a mixture of cocaine and alcohol instead.
Prosecutors said text messages, phone calls and witness testimony established that Chambers believed the baggie he purchased from Davis only contained cocaine. A board-certified medical toxicologist/emergency medicine doctor also testified that Chambers would not have died if not for his fentanyl use, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In statements to the court submitted for Davis' sentencing, Chambers' mother said her son's death "has left me numb for the rest of my life," while the victim's wife said, "My husband was loved by so many. As a mother I suffer daily having to see my children miss their father. They are so young and they don't understand fully why their daddy had to go to heaven. It is so heartbreaking to see my children hurt and not be able to do anything to take it away and make it better. The biggest tragedy from all of this is that two innocent children have to grow up without a dad."
