N.J. drug dealer gets 12 years for Christmas Eve heroin death

Defendant sold the victim the heroin while on parole for a prior possession of heroin with intent to distribute conviction.

SOMERVILLE -- A drug dealer found guilty of selling heroin to a Hillsborough man who later died of an overdose on Christmas Eve 2013 was sentenced to 12 years in prison Friday in Somerset County Superior Court.

Christopher Krafsky, 33, of Bridgewater, was sentenced under the state's Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Deaths law, a first-degree crime that carries a minimum 10-year prison sentence. He must serve 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Krafsky, who apologized to Johnson's family prior to being sentenced, sold Richard Johnson, 22, of Hillsborough, three bags of heroin on the night of Dec. 23, 2013. Johnson was found dead in the basement of the home he shared with his mother the next morning.

"I'm very pleased with the sentence," said Lisa Johnson, Richard's mother. "I hope this sentence sends a clear message that we're going to continue as a community in Somerset County to fight the war on the heroin epidemic."

Krafsky's stepmother, who gave her name only as Toni, said her stepson is going to appeal his conviction.

"I feel for Mrs. Johnson," she said. "We both lost our sons in a different way."

Assistant prosecutor Merrill M. Mezzacappa was seeking a maximum 20-year sentence. She pointed out to Superior Court Judge Bruce A. Jones that Krafsky had committed six prior indictable offenses and was on parole for a conviction on possession of drugs with intent to distribute when he sold the drugs to Johnson.

"We need to deter the drug dealers that are killing our youth," Mezzacappa told the court. "Mr. Krafsky has had a variety of opportunities to change his ways and hasn't. He's a menace and danger to society."

Defense attorney James Wronko argued for a 10-year sentence, saying that the state's Strict Liability for Drug-Induced Deaths law is "archaic."

"We have to change how we address the drug epidemic," said Wronko. "I don't think the heroin epidemic is going to be cured by throwing the lowest-level drug addicts who deal drugs to support their habit in jail."

As the judge finished reading his sentence and Krafsky was handcuffed by a Somerset County Sheriff's officer, he said to Krafsky, "I hope you come out of prison a better man then when you went in."