Mother of drug OD victim seeks leniency for friend’s role in death | News

BRENTWOOD — Sandra Parish lost her son, Joseph Bragg, to a drug overdose last year, but when it came time for the friend who provided him with the fentanyl-laced heroin to be sentenced she begged a judge not to send her to prison.

“She’s being punished right now and she’s going to be punished for the rest of her life because she and Joey were friends,” a tearful Parish told Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Andrew Schulman.

Parish’s plea for leniency came during an emotional sentencing hearing Friday for her son’s friend, Samantha Fitzmeyer, a 37-year-old recovering drug addict from Newmarket who’s been saved from overdoses twice before and is now in rehab and trying to turn her life around.

In this case, Parish told the judge, the real killer was the dealer who put the lethal dose of fentanyl in the heroin that was sold to Fitzmeyer. She bought the heroin for the 40-year-old Bragg and gave it to him hours before he died at his Newfields home on July 30, 2017.

The hearing was a rare moment where the family of the victim embraced the accused.

Parish insisted that Fitzmeyer wasn’t a criminal and that she only went to Massachusetts to buy the heroin at her son’s request. She was a friend to her son, who had struggled with addiction for 20 years.

“She had no idea that that little bag was going to kill him,” Parish said.

The state Attorney General’s office prosecuted Fitzmeyer on a felony charge of dispensing a controlled drug resulting in death. Assistant Attorney General John Harding asked for a 4- to 8-year prison sentence for Fitzmeyer, who pleaded guilty.

But after hearing from both sides, including from Fitzmeyer, who wiped tears as she apologized, Judge Schulman gave her a 2- to 4-year sentence that was all suspended.

Fitzmeyer will be able to remain free as long as she doesn’t get into more trouble and will remain on probation for four years. She must also continue her rehabilitation, complete counseling and treatment programs, and pay $1,557 restitution to Parish.

“Heroin takes away the ability of rational thinking and decision making and the court has to try to help the addict kick it and become a responsible citizen because they lose the ability to do that for themselves,” Parish said, adding that her son would never have wanted Fitzmeyer to go to prison.

Newfields police Lt. Michael Schwartz said authorities plan to pursue charges against the alleged dealer, who also faced drug charges in Lawrence, Mass., but has since been deported to the Dominican Republic.

Through her tears, Fitzmeyer told the court that she’s been grateful for the opportunity to get help for her addiction and that she never thought her friend would die.

“I loved Joey very much,” she said.

Fitzmeyer, who now has a job, said she wants to be around her daughter, with whom she is trying to reconnect after her struggles with addiction, and that she wants to “be able to function in the world without having to use substances.”

She said she wants to be a “good person in society” and help people with mental health and addiction and “be a mentor and someone people can look up to.”

“I am very sorry,” she said.

Tom Reid, Fitzmeyer’s defense lawyer, said the tragic death had forced her to get help and that her connection to Bragg wasn’t a “dealer relationship.”

Judge Schulman urged Fitzmeyer to place a photograph of Bragg in her room as a reminder. At one point he asked Bragg’s mother to approach the bench so he could get a close look at the framed picture she brought of her son.

“I wanted to know who it was we were talking about,” he said.

rockinghamnews@unionleader.com