Texas Man Sentenced On Hallucinogenic Drug Charge

By Andrew Gorosko

BRIDGEPORT — A Texas man, who pleaded guilty last October to one count of distributing a hallucinogenic substance, was sentenced on January 7 in Bridgeport Superior Court, receiving an effective five-year prison term for the crime, which is linked with a Newtown girl’s untimely death in Monroe last May.

In Courtroom 3-A at the Main Street courthouse, Judge George Thim sentenced Quentin Ham, 23, of North Richland Hills, Texas, to a ten-year prison term, which would be suspended after Mr Ham serves five years in prison. Mr Ham formerly lived in Newtown.

Five years of probation would follow Mr Ham’s release from prison. If Mr Ham should violate the terms of that probation, he would be subject to serving the balance of the ten-year term.

The lifeless body of Danielle Jacobsen, 17, of Tunnel Road, Newtown, was found in a shallow pond at a Monroe condominium complex last Memorial Day weekend. Ms Jacobsen had been scheduled to graduate from Newtown High School last June.

An autopsy indicated that she died an accidental death caused by asphyxia due to drowning. The autopsy report added that Ms Jacobsen’s ingestion of the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine, commonly known as DMT, constituted “a significant condition contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying cause.”

Ms Jacobsen had ingested DMT, which was supplied by Mr Ham, at a gathering in a condo unit at Northbrook Condominiums off Route 25, after which her body was found in the pond 32 hours later, on the morning of May 30.

The sentence Mr Ham received stems from a plea agreement negotiated between Mr Ham’s attorney, Joseph DaSilva, and Assistant State’s Attorney Robert C. Satti, Jr, who is the prosecutor in the case.

In that agreement, Mr DaSilva reserved the right to argue for a lesser sentence, but Judge Thim maintained that the seriousness of the crime warranted an effective five-year prison term for Mr Ham.

Mr Ham initially had been charged with two counts of distributing a hallucinogenic substance, but one of those two counts was not prosecuted as part of the plea agreement.

Sentencing

Judicial marshals escorted Mr Ham into the courtroom for his sentencing. Mr Ham, who had his hands restrained behind his back, wore tan prison garb. He has grown long black hair and a long black beard.

Mr Satti told Judge Thim that while many people may consider drug crimes to be victimless crimes, Mr Ham would be sentenced to prison time because Ms Jacobsen died after ingesting the DMT.

Mr Satti urged Judge Thim to allow Francesca Jacobsen, the mother of the late Danielle, to speak in court.

“I don’t believe Mr Ham maliciously tried to hurt her,” Ms Jacobsen said.

People must understand the seriousness of drug known as DMT, she said.

“This is serious. It does affect lives…It can cause death. In this case, it did,” she said, her voice breaking with emotion.

Ms Jacobsen urged that Mr Ham be required to serve the full five-year prison term specified by the plea agreement.

Mr Satti said that after Ms Jacobsen was found dead, Mr Ham was found in Newtown with a gun.

Newtown police have said they responded to the area of Newtown Shopping Village at 6 Queen Street about 5:20 pm May 30 in response to a report that Mr Ham was acting suicidal nearby. Police have said they located Mr Ham in a field between the shopping center and Trinity Episcopal Church.

Mr Ham was distraught over Danielle Jacobsen’s death.

Other Charges

Newtown police lodged a second-degree reckless endangerment charge against Mr Ham because, for a time, he had left a pistol and some ammunition unattended in a place where a passerby could have gotten access to the weapon and the ammunition.

Police also charged him with carrying a pistol without a permit and second-degree breach of peace.

Mr Ham pleaded guilty in November in Danbury Superior Court to the reckless endangerment and pistol charges in that case. For those offenses, he was sentenced to an effective sentence of 15 months in prison.

In that matter, the reckless endangerment conviction carried a six-month prison sentence, and the pistol conviction carried a five-year prison sentence, which would be suspended after he serves 15 months in prison. The prison time would be followed by five years of probation.

Mr Satti pointed out that the Monroe Police Department’s investigation into Ms Jacobsen’s death is still an open case. Besides Mr Ham, there were four other young men present at the condominium on the night that Ms Jacobsen ingested the DMT, the prosecutor said.

“[DMT] is not something we normally see in this area,” Mr Satti said. In other parts of the United States, its use poses a serious problem, he added.

The prosecutor noted that Mr Ham has the support of his family members.

“This defendant has shown remorse from the beginning,” Mr Satti said, adding that Mr Ham might have committed suicide on May 30, if Newtown police had not apprehended him. Mr Ham had written some text messages on a cellphone to others expressing his remorse over Ms Jacobsen’s death, the prosecutor noted.

Mr Ham’s providing the DMT to Ms Jacobsen amounted to a “stupid mistake” that was followed by a “tragic result,” Mr Satti said.

Mr Satti asked that Mr Ham’s prison sentence for the crime he committed in Monroe run concurrently with the prison sentence he received for the crimes he committed in Newtown.

“Unfortunately, there was a tragic result,” Mr DaSilva said. The text messages that Mr Ham had typed on his cellphone to others clearly expressed his remorse over Ms Jacobsen’s death, the lawyer said.

“[Mr Ham] is fundamentally a good person,” Mr DaSilva said. “This [death] was certainly nothing that was intended to occur,” the lawyer said.

“He does have all the potential in the world to go forward to make a good life,” he added.

Mr Ham’s remorse over Ms Jacobsen’s death warrants some leniency in sentencing, Mr DaSilva told Judge Thim. The lawyer noted that Mr Ham has been incarcerated since last June.

Mr DaSilva suggested that Mr Ham be required to serve three years in prison.

Mr Ham apologizes to the Jacobsen family and thanks his family for its support of him, Mr DaSilva said.

Asked by Judge Thim if he wanted to speak on his own behalf, Mr Ham responded, “No, your honor.”

In handing down the sentence, Judge Thim said, “This is indeed a tragic case,” considering the Jacobsen family’s loss.

Judge Thim said that a sentence with less punishment than the plea agreement specifies is not justified.

Following the sentencing, Mr Ham’s parents, who attended the court session, declined comment.

After the sentencing, Mr DaSilva said he does not know whether any additional criminal charges would be filed against Mr Ham or against the other four young men involved in the May incident.

The lawyer said that he is “disappointed” that his client did not receive a sentence of less than five years in prison, but understands why Mr Ham received a five-year prison term.

On January 11, Mr Ham was being held by the state Department of Correction at the Bridgeport Correctional Center. If he were to serve the maximum prison term specified by his sentence, his release date would be June 1, 2015, when considering the time credit he has received for the time served so far.