do u arrest the gun dealer when someone is shot? i also dont agree with this but this drug is so bad that anyone involved should get something out of it. this drug is getting way out of hand and i am getting scared of my children getting involved in the future. they are still young and very well supervised but i know good kids that turned bad right under their parents nose. maybe if the consistences are to the extreme people might think twice before dabbling with this stuff.

unless a person is tying somebody up and shooting them full of drugs, how can you charge them with murder or think it's appropriate? he sold drugs, a crime, it's not murder nor should it be.

youre right ghostryder. for "CHOOSING to sell drugs" (is this an homage to eyster?) he should be charged with CHOOSING to sell drugs. thats a crime. distributing opiates is a crime. a felony. a serious crime. thats what he deserves. but not homicide. dont you people get it?

He gets what he deserves for CHOOSING to sell drugs instead of working hard in life like the rest of us, and ALL people like him who choose to do things like this should have ALL their state "gifts" taken away like medicaid, WIC, etc. Nothing like making money off of addicts and supporting terrorism.

I ask, isn't this the kid that claimed he was part of a Chicago gang that is a federal crime to be a part of? Then, he gets caught with having sold drugs that resulted in a death? Sure, it was the guy's choice to buy and use AT or just before work, but how'd he get the drugs?

every prison drug rehab program that is available to murderers is going to be available to people doing time for distributing heroin. probably even more opportunities if the prisoner is held as a non violent offender as opposed to a murderer. distorting the definition of homicide accomplishes nothing

This is possibly not the only person that David W. Givhan has indirectly murdered.

areyoueventhinking: Are you referring to drug users or drug dealers in your comment? I agree that drug rehab (and I am not speaking exclusively about rehab provided by the correctional system) is the best chance for a user to get clean and get introduced to a lifelong program for recovery. However, a great percentage of the dealers are NOT users. Do users also sell their goods. Yes, sometimes, but only to get an inflated price on it to purchase more of the substance. Other than that, most users (who have developed addiction) make lousy dealers because they use up most of their supply themselves.

I don't agree with this law at all. Is its intent to eliminate or slow drug sales? It's not happening. As soon as one source is jailed, another one is found. Is the law to rehabilitate the dealer? Adult jail and/or prison rarely accomplishes this. Is the law in place to get another dealer off the streets? It accomplishes that but at a high price to the rest of us ... is it worth this much or even reasonable to lock these people up for years? Not really (IMO). Another reason I object to this law ... it removes the personal responsibility of the user. Do I have another answer to this mess? Not really, but I think somewhere there has to be a middle point between charging/convicting nonviolent drug dealers with murder and legalizing the sale and use of these substances. The war on drugs is not working.

Hey Gonzo, I know people that have gone through the prison system drug rehab program and have come out totally different people (for the better) The system doesn't always fail! The Len Bias law is there for a reason, and this guy is the reason that its considered murder, therefore he deserves to be locked away! > Period end of story!

If the dealer goes to jail for murder, then why don't the females? They helped get it, most users don't inject it themselves. They have someone help cause if you know anything about that drug, once it hits you you're pretty out of it. I'm tryin' to figure out why the females are not charged also. Only seems fair. Oh yeah, because they "helped" out on the case. From the looks of it, they did more damage to the case then helped.

doc has a lot of faith in the rehabilitative capabilities of prison. personally i'd never want to run into a former non-violent offender after he's spent a good chunk of his life in prison on a murder charge. he's likely to actually be dangerous after that

Not suprising their stories differ, how can you expect a drug user, or anyone using heroin to get the details right. I can only imagine how proud the parents of these kids are at this time.

Windy- The Len Bias law is exactly the reason why Gavhan is being charged here, if you sell drugs to someone and they die using them then you are charged with murder! What part of that law doesn't apply here? It makes no difference where he worked how can you say it was someone else's fault here? The women testifying here will hold little to no credibility in this case as they to were using drugs and thats probably the reason they may not be able to remember all of the details of that day. I say let him go to prison and hopefully he can get into a program that will help him to understand why is there and that the blame is rightfully on him and maybe he can change his life for the better for when he returns to society.

I understand the Len Bias (sp?) law in some circumstances. But this is not right. He chose to buy and use herion before going to WORK at a HOSPITAL and this is someone else's fault? The dealer didn't inject him. It just doesn't sit right with me.