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Prosecutors urge removal of knowledge requirement for fentanyl mixtures; civil-rights group warns HB88 expands incarceration
Summary
Prosecutors testified the bill's change is needed to prevent traffickers from evading fentanyl penalties by mixing it with Schedule III–V drugs; the ACLU of Ohio opposed other HB88 elements, saying the bill vastly increases trafficking penalties and will expand prison populations.
At the House Judiciary Committee's third hearing on House Bill 88, witnesses offered sharply different views about proposed changes to fentanyl-related possession and broader trafficking penalties.
Lewis Tobin of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association told the committee the bill addresses a prosecutorial hurdle in cases where Schedule III, IV or V drugs are mixed with fentanyl. Tobin explained that under current law prosecutors generally must only prove a defendant knowingly possessed a controlled substance, not a specific drug, but that a provision affecting mixtures of Schedule III–V drugs with fentanyl creates an additional requirement. He said the bill would remove the requirement that prosecutors prove the defendant "knew or had reason to know that a…
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