The parents of a young man who died of fentanyl poisoning three years ago received some justice Friday in court but the grieving family is still expressing disappointment in the sentence telling the man connected to their son’s death that he’s lucky. Maria Guerrero explains.
The parents of a young man who died of fentanyl poisoning three years ago are expressing disappointment in the sentence agreement handed down Friday for the man connected to his death.
Wearing T-shirts bearing their son’s image, Frank and Ofie Moreno and a longtime friend walked into a Tarrant County Courtroom on Friday morning knowing they would be walking out disappointed.
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“Even when I heard the charges, I’m still surprised,” said friend Kuzari Tennison.
Joseph Alday accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to four years in prison in the February 2022 fentanyl poisoning death of his friend, 24-year-old Sebastian Moreno.
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A grand jury indicted Alday for the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance causing death in September of 2024.
Friday's plea agreement, a bitter pill for the Morenos, who told Alday in court that they had been dealt a life sentence.
“I watched him interact with his family, to smile, to kiss his girlfriend,” said Ofie Moreno through tears. “My son would never get a chance to have children. He stole our life. When my son died, we died with him.”
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The family says their son began taking painkillers after falling on ice.
Moreno’s friend, Alday, reportedly gave him a counterfeit pill that was laced with fentanyl.
Moreno’s mother discovered her son’s lifeless body in their garage.
On Friday, Frank Moreno says he told Alday on Friday, “I even told him in the courtroom that he’s lucky that he only got four years, because there’s other people out there that have been receiving 20-plus years in prison.”
That’s true.
In 2023, Texas lawmakers passed a new law allowing prosecutors to file a murder charge against a person who manufactures or distributes a deadly dose of fentanyl.
The first-degree felony carries a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
However, the Tarrant County DA’s office explains, "This case fell under the old law, which makes the manufacture or delivery of a controlled substance causing death a third-degree felony with a range of punishment from probation to 10 years. We discussed this plea agreement with the family of the victim, and they agreed with the plea.'
Since the new law, the DA’s office says it has secured a 30-year conviction and a 19-year conviction in similar cases.
Despite feeling let down, Moreno says he’ll continue advocating and warning others of the lethal consequences, even half a pill of the synthetic opioid can bring.
