In an increasing effort to crack down on the fentanyl crisis, a Monterey County man has been charged with murder in the fentanyl-overdose death of a San Jose woman earlier this year. Accused of knowingly selling drugs containing the deadly opioid while deceiving users about their potency, this case marks the fourth time since 2020 that the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office has filed murder charges against a reputed fentanyl dealer for an overdose death.
Jonpaul Kupka, a 32-year-old resident of Marina, was charged with one count of murder and two felony counts of selling a controlled substance on June 21 and has been held without bail in the Main Jail in San Jose. His cousin, a 31-year-old Marina man, was charged alongside Kupka only on the drug counts. Authorities alleged that he served as a runner for Kupka in delivering fentanyl, including to an undercover police officer who was part of the investigation that resulted in the criminal charges.
The case was prompted by the February 13 death of Heather Marie Matchulat. Her boyfriend told the San Jose police that they split what they believed was a Percocet pill before both suffered the effects of an overdose. An autopsy by the county Medical Examiner-Coroner's Office determined that Matchulat died from fentanyl toxicity that compounded other health conditions, according to Mercury News.
Investigators interviewed Matchulat's boyfriend and determined that he purchased the deadly pill from a man in the Monterey County city of Seaside. An undercover sting led by the county's Special Enforcement Team resulted in Kupka's arrest on May 25 in Watsonville. The murder charge against Kupka seems to be based on statements he made during police interviews after his arrest, in which he admitted knowing that fentanyl was present in the pills he sold as Percocet. Even though Kupka had been arrested in 2015 for suspected drug sales in Marina, it didn't stop him from continuing his dangerous business.
As fentanyl-related murder charges increase, concerns have been raised by criminal defense attorneys and legal experts about setting troubling precedents in equating drug dealing with the deaths caused by the drugs themselves. David Ball, a Santa Clara University law professor, highlights the fact that many factors contribute to fatal drug doses, not just the drug itself or the dealer's intent.
Edward Liang, a supervising deputy district attorney for the major crime and drug trafficking team at the DA's office, states that the decision to file murder charges in fentanyl deaths is made judiciously and that most overdose deaths do not meet the bar for implied malice, which usually requires specific knowledge that an act has a high likelihood of causing death. Liang stresses the unique deadliness of fentanyl, noting that Santa Clara County has made it a focus of public policy and law enforcement amid a continued rise in fentanyl overdoses and deaths.
Between January and April 2022, there were 42 fentanyl overdose deaths in the county, accounting for 74% of all opioid deaths, according to figures from the coroner's office. A year later, 46 fentanyl deaths were recorded in roughly the same period, but they now accounted for 90% of all opioid deaths, including the March death of a man held in the Main Jail.
