Dallas County jury weighs fate of man accused in teen's cheese death
12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A Dallas County jury this morning will continue deliberating the
fate of a man accused of causing the death of his girlfriend's brother
by giving the boy cheese heroin.
Deleon Vanegas, 20, was
originally charged with murder in the death of 15-year-old Fernando
Cortez Jr. But the charge was changed last month to delivery of a
controlled substance to a minor, a second-degree felony. If convicted,
Mr. Vanegas could be sentenced to life in prison if jurors rule that
the heroin killed Fernando, and if they determine the drug acted as a
deadly weapon.
Mr. Vanegas' one-day trial began Tuesday morning
with his attorney, Heath Hyde, calling the teenager's death an
accidental overdose. Mr. Hyde said his client and Fernando were both
drug users and shared what they had on March 30, 2007.
Testimony
showed that Fernando gave Mr. Vanegas some Xanax, an antidepressant,
that day. And later that same day Mr. Vanegas, who was 19 at the time,
gave cheese heroin to his 16-year-old girlfriend, Bianca Cortez, and
Fernando. Fernando went to sleep that night and never woke up. His body
was found the next day.
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