A low-level drug dealer who gave a teenaged girl the fentanyl that killed her got little sympathy from an Ontario Court judge as he was sentenced in Simcoe on Tuesday.
Derrick Adams, 42, was given an eight-year prison sentence after being found guilty in January of manslaughter, trafficking fentanyl and criminal negligence causing death. The last charge was later stayed.
Justice Aubrey Hilliard said even as Adams tried to express remorse for the Aug. 27, 2021 death of Rachel Cook, he notably “deflected some of the blame” for the girl’s death and minimized his own role.
“He indicated he did not believe that he should be solely responsible for Rachel’s death as others in her family also failed her,” said Hilliard in a written decision released immediately after the sentencing.
“Rachel was 17 years old at the time of her death. Mr. Adams was 41. He was the adult and she was still a child.”
Cook was struggling with her addiction at the time and living with a family friend in Simcoe, who was trying to support her getting clean from drugs.
“The impact on Rachel’s friends and family has been significant,” said Hilliard. “They all knew that Rachel was struggling with substance misuse and tried, each in their own way, to help her recover.”
While Adams and his defense lawyer characterized Cook as a “seasoned user” of fentanyl who knew the risks, Hilliard said that lack of insight diminished his expression of remorse.
Adams had also argued that the text messages between himself and Cook indicated his concern for her.
“I’m doing a toke now,” Cook texted the dealer shortly before her death.
“Pls message me after too thanks,” Adams replied.
Hilliard ruled that, instead of reducing the dealer’s responsibility, it showed he was well-aware of the deadly potential of the substance he gave Cook.
Adams also argued that, although he pleaded not guilty and forced a trial, he made concessions during the trial that sped up the proceedings.
“None of the concessions made by Mr. Adams spared Rachel’s guardian, sister or mother from having to testify,” said the judge.
“All three of those women had to attend and testify about the events leading up to the death of Rachel, an experience which was undoubtedly emotionally and mentally difficult.”
Adams’ six-page criminal record is replete with convictions for previous violence.
Among the 90 criminal convictions are charges of assault with a weapon, robbery, dangerous operation causing bodily harm, trafficking cocaine and, in 2021, aggravated assault which netted him an almost three-and-a-half year sentence.
Adams has rarely worked at a regular job and was on ODSP benefits at the time of Cook’s death because he had, said the judge, been deemed “institutionalized.”
The Crown asked Hilliard to sentence Adams to eight years while the defense argued for five to six years on the two charges.
Hilliard said if it weren’t for Adams’ vow that, once released, he’ll never touch fentanyl again, she would have found the idea of even eight years too low. Due to that promise and the rigors of pandemic incarceration Adams faced in the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, the judge accepted the eight-year sentence, reducing it by both time served and enhanced pandemic credit.
It leaves Adams with five and a half years to serve.
Several supporters of Adams were in the courtroom and, after a short outburst in response to the award, hurried away in anger.
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