November 24th, 2009

As reported by the York Daily Record:

Dante R. “Danny” Sciarretta died of a heroin overdose in his car on Wood Street near Lincoln Park in York on May 13, 2004.

The 26-year-old could have survived had he been injected with Narcan, a medical staple found in emergency rooms and ambulances.

Instead of seeking help, Michael Jeffrey Duke abandoned his friend and went home. Sciarretta’s body was found the next day.

Duke, 29, pleaded guilty in 2006 to involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree misdemeanor. Because of his own drug problems and repeated failures at rehabilitation, Judge Penny L. Blackwell sentenced him to the maximum 21/2 to five years in prison.

At the urging of Sciarretta’s mother, state Sen. Mike Waugh, R-Shrewsbury Township, has introduced a bill that would make Duke’s actions a second-degree felony, punishable by up to five to 10 years.

Waugh’s bill is before the judiciary committee.

Read more about the proposed bill here:  York Daily Record