Couple’s Liability Questioned in Son’s Overdose

A couple showed “conscious disregard” for their 18-year-old son by ignoring the heroin use that killed him, a grand jury said in a manslaughter indictment that legal experts say raises questions about parental liability.

Criminal law experts said the indictment handed up Tuesday is “very unusual” because Mary and Lewis Hockenbury are not accused of selling or giving drugs to their son. Leonardo DiPasquale died of an overdose at the couple’s home last year.

“Criminal law doesn’t prosecute a failure to act. It only prosecutes acts,” said George Thomas, professor of law at Rutgers School of Law in Newark.

Prosecutor Katharine L. Errickson said the Lebanon Township couple weren’t presented as possible defendants to the grand jury.

“But after hearing all the evidence, jurors decided on their own they wanted to consider a charge of manslaughter against the parents,” Errickson said.

The grand jury saw evidence of “conscious disregard” by the couple for their son, Errickson said. She did not elaborate.

The Hockenburys didn’t return phone calls Thursday from Associated Press, and prosecutors did not know whether the couple had an attorney.

The Hockenburys, who could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, were indicted along with three friends of DiPasquale who are accused of giving him drugs.

Erica Poch, 18, and Christine Curtin, 21, also were charged with manslaughter. James Bowkley, 46, was charged with drug distribution.

Sandra Guerra Thompson, a law professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said prosecutors will have a tough time proving the couple knew DiPasquale’s heroin use would contribute to his death.

“Relatives living in the same home may have a legal duty to rescue each other if in trouble, like choking, for example,” Thompson said.

“But people who take heroin don’t normally die.”

In recent years, some states have passed laws that hold parents liable for a child’s crimes. But Thompson said courts have consistently declared those laws unconstitutional.

The case is especially unusual because DiPasquale was an adult when he died and presumably responsible for his actions, Thomas said.

However, Errickson said that makes no difference in the case: “If he was a child, more charges could have been filed against the parents.”

Before his death, DiPasquale had been charged with drug distribution in the fatal heroin overdose of a 17-year-old last year.