A Wappingers Falls father has admitted in court that he failed to protect his 10-month-old daughter from fentanyl exposure, pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide in her 2020 death.
According to Daily Voice, 41-year-old Thomas Martinez entered the plea in Dutchess County Court on May 14. He was ordered held without bail and is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on June 26, 2026.
Investigation and autopsy
In a press release, the New York State Police said troopers were dispatched to a Creekview Court home on Nov. 9, 2020. The infant was taken to Vassar Brothers Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy by the Dutchess County Medical Examiner found that the child died from acute fentanyl intoxication, according to the release.
State Police said Martinez was arrested after a five-year investigation carried out with the Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office, an unusually long timeline that underscores how seriously local authorities are treating pediatric fentanyl deaths.
Prosecutors' account
Prosecutors told the court that Martinez "failed to take reasonable precautions" that would have prevented his daughter’s exposure to fentanyl and that his conduct was a "gross deviation" from what a reasonable person would have done in the same situation, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Martinez admitted that his actions created a substantial and unjustifiable risk of death to the child, a key element of the charge, Daily Voice reported.
What the charge means
Criminally negligent homicide is a class E felony under New York law. To secure a conviction, prosecutors must show the defendant acted with criminal negligence, meaning he failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that his conduct would cause someone’s death.
Under the statute and the state’s pattern jury instructions, that failure to notice the danger has to be so serious that it amounts to a gross deviation from the level of care a reasonable person would use in the same circumstances. The legal definitions are spelled out in more detail in the statute and jury materials; see Justia and New York Courts for details.
Local context
The case is the latest in a series of prosecutions in Dutchess County in which parents have faced homicide charges after children died from fentanyl exposure. In March, prosecutors said Haitham Dasan pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide after his 16-month-old daughter died of acute fentanyl intoxication, according to News 12.
Martinez remains in custody ahead of his June 26 sentencing. Together with the Dasan case, his plea highlights the District Attorney’s ongoing push to treat fatal fentanyl exposure involving children as grounds for serious criminal charges rather than merely tragic accidents.
