Pretrial motions are set for Thursday ahead of jury selection for the trial of a man accused of supplying the fentanyl-laced pills that caused the death of his 29-year-old friend in Norco.
Jacob Austin Parr, 45, is charged with second-degree murder for the 2022 death of Isaak Quintin Ruiz.
During a status conference Tuesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Parr’s case was transferred to the courtroom of Riverside County Superior Court Judge Charles Koosed, who is slated Thursday to begin ruling on motions concerning evidence, witnesses, scheduling and instructions prior to the start of jury selection.
The case had been in pretrial negotiations for months before Judge Joshlyn Pulliam, without a resolution.
Parr is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Byrd Detention Center.
According to a defense brief filed with a motion for dismissal in April, Parr and Ruiz had been friends for several years, but Parr had only sold narcotics to the victim periodically in the four months prior to his death.
Testimony by sheriff’s investigators during the defendant’s 2023 preliminary hearing indicated Ruiz had attempted to kick his drug habit, even trying to detox in a rehabilitation program, but he continued to “struggle with opiates.”
“The decedent’s girlfriend … told police that he struggled with addiction and went from using heroin to fentanyl,” the defense brief stated. “She said it was difficult for him to resist smoking whatever substance he had in his possession.”
According to court papers, Parr was endeavoring to put his life on track and quit using or selling drugs, but when Ruiz couldn’t acquire substances from other sources, he turned to the defendant.
“(Ruiz) rejected offers for less lethal opiates and said he would save his money for `fetty,”’ the defense brief said.
In a text message exchange between the victim and defendant in February 2022, Parr warned, “You gotta be careful, bro’. This (expletive) will kill you if you haven’t used in a while,” according to the narrative.
At one point, before allegedly selling fentanyl to Ruiz, the defendant offered him Narcan, an opioid antagonist that can arrest the effects of fentanyl and save victims who have taken a potentially lethal amount, the brief said. However, Ruiz evidently did not accept it.
“Fentanyl users seek it because it is stronger than heroin,” the brief said. “Many users know the risks involved with fentanyl, but prefer it over heroin because it is cheaper and stronger. Most people who use fentanyl understand that it is dangerous.”
On the night of April 22, 2022, Parr met Ruiz at a Norco restaurant, allegedly selling him an undetermined amount of fentanyl, then the two left in Parr’s car and drove to a nearby 76 Station on Sixth Street, where Ruiz stepped into the small men’s room and locked the door, according to investigators.
Parr drove away.
The victim consumed the fentanyl he’d purchased and passed out on the floor. He was in there for two hours before the station clerk finally unlocked the door to check on him, discovering him dead, according to preliminary hearing testimony.
Detectives ultimately identified Parr as the person who allegedly sold the fentanyl to the victim, culminating in his arrest on July 12, 2022. The defendant has a prior conviction for misdemeanor DUI.
Since February 2021, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has charged over 30 people in connection with fentanyl poisonings.
Last November, prosecutors closed the books on the county’s first fentanyl murder case to go before a jury, culminating in the conviction of 34-year-old Vicente David Romero, who was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for the 2020 death of a Temecula woman.
According to public health statistics, there were 550 known fentanyl-related fatalities countywide in 2023, a 9% increase from 2022, when there were 503.
Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which says the drug is smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels. It’s 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.
Fentanyl is the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 45 years old.