Pubdate: Thu, 04 May 2000 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm Section: Florida/Metro, Page1 Author: Gary Sprott, of the Tampa Tribune OVERDOSE WAS 3RD-DEGREE MURDER TAMPA - A Riverview man, charged under a little-used law, is guilty of third-degree murder in his friend's overdose death. At the end - after seven hours of jury deliberations over two days - the verdict was one sought by neither prosecution nor defense, yet one that satisfied both. James Rouleau, 20, was found guilty of third-degree murder Wednesday for supplying his friend with the heroin that killed him. The crime carries,a maximum prison term of 15 years, but both parties said they expect a much lighter penalty when Rouleau is sentenced May 24. Prosecutors had asked for first-degree murder, which would have sent the Riverview man to prison for life. They had taken a law out of mothballs to charge Rouleau in a crackdown on a more vigorous, and more deadly, heroin trade. Rouleau's attorney had called for acquittal, saying his client was a "junkie" being made a scapegoat for Ricky Shouse's death. "I thought it was a win for us said Tampa lawyer John D. Hooker. "He was facing life in prison without a chance of parole." Hillsborough County Assistant State Attorney Robin Fuson said the outcome sends a message. "I think what it says is that juries are going to consider holding people responsible for providing narcotics to other people," he said. As the verdict was read, Rouleau held his hands as if in prayer and closed his eyes. About a dozen family and friends cried and consoled each other. Rouleau and Shouse, co-workers at a Brandon sea-food restaurant snorted heroin in April 1999. Shouse, 22, died hours later in his Valrico trailer. Prosecutors said Rouleau, known to friends as "Ziggy," bought the heroin from Brandon teenager Kevin Sosa, kept some and resold the rest. Rouleau said he bought the heroin with Shouse, but was contradicted by his taped statements to detectives. Rouleau was prosecuted under a state law passed in the early 1970s in response to a surge in heroin use. The law was seldom invoked until the mid-1990s, when heroin use began climbing again. Last year, 20 deaths in Hillsborough involved heroin, records show. Rouleau is believed to be the first person tried in Hillsborough under the law. Two others were charged with first-degree murder last summer in unrelated incidents for allegedly supplying heroin to people who suffered fatal overdoses. Those cases are pending. Hooker said prosecutors targeted his client out of frustration at being unable to catch the real-drug distributors. "I think that the statute is vague and it needs to be revisited by the legislature so they can tell us specifically who they meant it to apply to," he said. Sosa, then 17, wasn't charged with murder because the law applies only to those 18 or older. He was charged with heroin possession and delivery. Fuson acknowledged that Rouleau wasn't a major drug dealer. He said the state would have charged "everyone up the ladder" if it could have proved that they supplied the fatal heroin. That was cold comfort to Rouleau's mother. "People that should be charged with this are still around somewhere," said Barbara Sidoti, "and I hope to God that someday they pay for what they've done." - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea