For supplying fatal dose: probation

The man, sentenced as a youthful offender, was convicted of third-degree murder for giving the heroin to a friend.

By RICHARD DANIELSON

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 25, 2000

TAMPA -- James Rouleau faced up to 15 years in prison for handing a fatal dose of heroin to a friend, but Rouleau was sentenced Wednesday to two years of community control and four years of probation.

Rouleau, a pudgy 20-year-old with a boyish face and thick brown hair, had been convicted of third-degree murder in the death of Richard Shouse on April 13, 1999.

Shackled and dressed in an orange jail uniform, Rouleau told Hillsborough Circuit Judge Cynthia Holloway that he "would go back and change what happened, but I can't."

"I'm very sorry this happened," he said.

Both men worked at Crabby Tom's restaurant in Brandon, and snorted heroin at work before going to Shouse's home in Valrico. Once there, Rouleau gave Shouse, 22, more heroin.

After ingesting the fatal overdose, Shouse fell ill, so Rouleau helped move him to a sofa. Concerned that Shouse seemed to be in trouble, Rouleau rubbed ice on his chest to revive him. Shouse awoke, but remained groggy. Shouse died after Rouleau left for work the next morning.

But Assistant State Attorney Robin Fuson contended that Rouleau was anything but remorseful during his trial and was changing his story Tuesday to avoid a long prison term.

"I'm not standing here before the court telling you that he is a murderer in the sense of (committing) a cold-blooded, premeditated murder," Fuson said. "When he decided to provide drugs to another kid and that killed the kid, he made a bad choice and he needs to pay the price."

Fuson compared Rouleau's case to DUI-manslaughter, but Holloway rejected the analogy. She said people killed by a drunken driver are "truly innocent victims" and found the comparison "highly offensive." She did not let Fuson respond, but later he said he meant that Shouse was like someone who drank heavily with a buddy and then got in a car with a driver he knew to be drunk.

Rouleau was originally accused of first-degree murder under a controversial law that allows prosecutors to charge anyone who distributes a dose of drugs to someone who later dies of an overdose. Distribution can include selling, injecting or, as in Rouleau's case, simply handing drugs to the victim.

Some defense attorneys have said the law is vague, applied incorrectly and too harsh in some cases. Many of the defendants were friends or at least acquaintances of the victims, not drug dealers. They shared drugs or sold small amounts to one another and did not intend for the victims to die.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted Rouleau of the lesser charge of third-degree murder. State sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 101/2 to 15 years, but because of Rouleau's age at the time of the offense, Holloway had the option of sentencing him as a youthful offender. That's what she did, so the adult sentencing guidelines did not apply.

In sentencing Rouleau, Holloway said she believed that his "candor in front of the jury was probably less than total" but added that she had to "balance punishment with the crime."

"I understand that the Legislature thinks this is the best way to deal with drug distribution . . . but I think education is probably far better," she said.

Rouleau's attorney, John Hooker, expected his client would spend two to three weeks in the Hillsborough County jail before a spot becomes available in the Manatee County boot camp, where he will serve his community control. As part of his sentence, Rouleau must receive drug treatment and undergo random testing for illegal narcotics.

Before sentencing, Rouleau's family pleaded with Holloway to sentence to him to any treatment she deemed necessary but to spare him a prison term. Outside the courtroom, they said Rouleau, an assistant kitchen manager before his arrest, planned to continue his education and join his stepfather's auto repair business.

"James is going to be much stronger as a result of this," said his mother, 44-year-old Barbara Sidoti of Riverview.

Her husband, David Sidoti, said Rouleau "never should have even been to trial to begin with." He said it was absurd that Rouleau faced the same sentence as teenager Valessa Robinson, who recently was convicted of third-degree murder in the stabbing death of her mother.

"It's not James' fault," he said. "They were both participating in it."

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