New Haven man gets prison for supplying drug in fatal OD

NEW HAVEN — A New Haven drug dealer was sentenced Tuesday to 6 1/2 years in prison for his part in a case that involved the death of an East Haven woman, federal authorities said.

Devell Conley, also known as “DL,” 32, of New Haven, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven to a total of 78 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for distributing narcotics, according to a release from the office of Connecticut U.S. Attorney John H. Durham.

The case is a result of an “ongoing statewide initiative targeting narcotics dealers who distribute heroin, fentanyl or opioids that cause death or serious injury to users,” the release noted.

Related: New Haven man charged with distributing drugs, linked to woman’s death

Further, according to court documents and statements made in court, it included that, on May 5, 2017, the East Haven Police Department “responded to a report of an untimely death of a 27-year-old female” at a home in that town, the release detailed At the home, officers “seized drug and non-drug evidence, including three small bags that contained a substance that tested positive for the presence of fentanyl.”

“The investigation revealed that Conley had provided drugs to the victim shortly before her death. He also had distributed heroin and crack cocaine to several drug users between July 2016 and May 2017,” the release said.

Conley has been held since his arrest May 18, 2017 and on Oct. 17, 2018, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of heroin and fentanyl, and one count of possession with intent to distribute, and distribution of heroin and cocaine base, federal authorities said.

Conley’s criminal history includes 14 prior convictions, including convictions for drug distribution, assault, threatening, criminal possession of a firearm, and resisting arrest, federal authorities said.

The sentencing memos in the case portray very different sides of the defendant.

Conley “is, to be sure, a career criminal and an inveterate drug trafficker who has spent much of his adult life in prison,” the government’s memo says.

“The defendant’s prior sentences have not deterred him from criminal conduct. They have not engendered a respect for the law. And, as discussed more fully below, they most certainly have not adequately protected the public from Conley’s persistent–and the instant case, deadly–drug trafficking,” the government memo says.

The memo recounts cell phone text messages shared between Conley, and the woman who later died, about drug purchases, as well as extensive other evidence used in the case.

However, the defense memo portrays a difficult life for Conley growing up in New Haven that included alleged longtime neglect and abuse, marijuana, alcohol and other drug use at a young age, beatings, the slaying of his older brother, the death of his father and being shot twice. In the document, Conley apologizes for the death of the East Haven woman, whom he notes was a parent, as he is.

“I know by apologize (sic) won’t fix your broken hearts, but I would like for you to know this event changed me (sic) life also,” Conley wrote about the woman’s death in his letter to her family.

Read the government memo:

CONLEY Devell Govt Sentencing Memo by Helen Bennett on Scribd

Read the defense memo:

CONLEY Devell Sentencing Memo by Helen Bennett on Scribd

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Haven Task Force and the East Haven and New Haven Police Departments. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick F. Caruso.