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Speak Up! - View Question #527 |
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Question: If a few of my friends are at a ecstasy party (everyone is on it) and someone gets really hurt or even dies because of it, can we all get into trouble? what will most likely happen?
Answer: Where several people are involved in something which is illegal, like everyone at a party taking a controlled substance such as ecstasy, and one of the persons is injured or killed at the party, several forms of liability may arise, including both criminal and civil liability.
From a criminal standpoint, the person or persons who supplied the drugs would be implicated (see more on penalties for selling drugs like Ecstasy). Also, if the other participants knew that the injured person was at risk or was having a medical reaction to the drug and took no action to help the person, they might be criminally negligent. Arizona has a misdemeanor manslaughter rule which says that if one or more persons are committing a crime and someone gets killed, those persons may be charged with manslaughter (read more on Manslaughter).
From a civil standpoint, a court case could show that the people involved contributed to the injury or death of the other person and that they should be held liable (or in other words may have to pay the victim's family money for their loss). Keep in mind that the parents of minors who are found to have either criminal or civil liability may have to pay damages for the conduct of their children.
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