Texas Man Pleads Guilty To Hallucinogenic Drug Charge

By Andrew Gorosko

BRIDGEPORT — A Texas man has pleaded guilty in Bridgeport Superior Court to one count of distributing a hallucinogenic substance, an offense with which he was charged following the untimely death of a Newtown girl whose body was found floating in a small, shallow pond at a Monroe condominium complex last Memorial Day weekend.

An autopsy which was later performed on the remains of Danielle Jacobsen, 17, of Tunnel Road, Newtown, 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, also known as DMT, constituted “a significant condition contributing to death, but not resulting in the underlying cause.”

Jacobsen ingested DMT at a gathering in a condo unit at Northbrook Condominiums off Route 25, after which her body was found in the pond on the morning of May 30.

 In court on October 27, Quentin Ham, 23, of North Richland Hills, Texas, pleaded guilty to the drug offense in a plea agreement which Ham’s attorney had reached with the state, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Robert C. Satti, Jr, who is the prosecutor in the case.

Ham allegedly supplied the DMT which some people at the gathering ingested.

There had been two felony counts of the drug charge pending against Ham. As part of the plea agreement, the two counts were consolidated into one count.

Under the terms of the pending agreement, which would be subject to final approval by a judge, Ham would receive a ten-year prison sentence, which would be suspended after he serves five years of prison time. Ham would serve probation after leaving prison.

Ham reserves the right to argue for a lesser sentence when his sentencing hearing occurs in court on January 7. Ham was being held on $220,000 bail at Bridgeport Correctional Center on November 3.

On June 22, Ham, who formerly lived in Newtown, had pleaded not guilty to the two felony drug offenses with which he had been charged on June 7.

Mr Satti said that he is prosecuting only the criminal case which is pending against Ham in Bridgeport Superior Court.

Attorney Joseph DaSilva, Jr, who represents Ham, on November 3 had no comment on Mr Ham’s guilty plea to the drug charge.

On November 12, Ham is scheduled to appear again in Danbury Superior Court on pending charges of second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree breach of peace, and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection with a May 30 Newtown incident. He has pleaded not guilty to all three offenses.

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 Ham was acting suicidal nearby. Police have said they located Ham in a field between the shopping center and Trinity Episcopal Church.

Ham reportedly was distraught over Jacobsen’s death.

Police have said they lodged the reckless endangerment charge against 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 bullets.

Francesca Jacobsen, the mother of the late Danielle, said on October 29, “If Quentin Ham never stepped foot in Connecticut, my daughter would still be alive.”

“Five years (in prison) to me is nothing,” she said, adding that although she would prefer that Ham serve a longer prison sentence, even a longer sentence would not satisfy her.

Ms Jacobsen said though, “He (Ham) has shown remorse for my daughter.”

She added, “I don’t find him solely responsible.”

Ms Jacobsen said she believes that at least one other of the several people who were present at the May gathering at the condo complex may be culpable for her daughter’s death. She noted that those people hired lawyers to represent them immediately after her daughter was found dead.

“There’s still a lot of unanswered questions,” Ms Jacobsen said.

 Danielle Jacobsen had been scheduled to graduate from Newtown High School last June.