Sheriff investigating Brian Nestande’s loss of life as post-mortem sheds mild on fentanyl overdose
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Division has confirmed it’s nonetheless investigating the loss of life of former Coachella Valley state Assemblyman Brian Nestande, who succumbed to a lethal dose of fentanyl and cocaine.
The sheriff’s division declined to reveal what facets of the loss of life it’s investigating, and county prosecutors stated no prices have been filed. In prior instances, Riverside County District Lawyer Mike Hestrin has introduced homicide prices towards individuals who provided deadly doses of fentanyl.
A full post-mortem report by the county coroner, which has been obtained by The Desert Solar, sheds extra mild on Nestande’s loss of life and the way it was found.
And the case highlights the widespread nature of the fentanyl epidemic.
Coachella mayor and others discovered physique
The post-mortem report particulars how Nestande’s physique was discovered by a bunch of his mates that included Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez, who can also be the chief of workers for Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez.
Hernandez informed a sheriff’s deputy that he and a bunch of mates had gone to Nestande’s Palm Desert residence to examine on him after they’d lunch collectively and discovered none of them had heard from Nestande in a number of days.
Hernandez stated he had final seen Nestande three days prior after they met for breakfast with different mates, at which level Hernandez thought Nestande had regarded wholesome.
Hernandez and his mates entered the house by way of an unlocked again door and located Nestande unresponsive on the ground in a room that appeared to have been set as much as function an workplace.
The reason for loss of life listed on the post-mortem examination report is “A number of Substance Intoxication (Fentanyl, Cocaine).”
Forensic pathologist Scott A. Luzi wrote that toxicology testing confirmed a designer type of fentanyl and a cocaine metabolite in Nestande’s blood. Luzi added that Nestande’s loss of life was the results of a “cardiac arrhythmia” brought on by the medicine. He additionally wrote that Nestande’s physique confirmed indicators of hypertension and coronary heart illness, which can have contributed to his loss of life.
The report states that each Hernandez and Nestande’s spouse, Gina Nestande, informed the coroner that Nestande’s household had a historical past of cardiac issues. Nonetheless, Gina stated she didn’t know Nestande to have coronary heart points, though she reported he didn’t go to a physician usually.
Nestande had excessive stage of fentanyl in blood
Wendy Hetherington, who works on overdose consciousness for Riverside College Well being System, stated the quantity of fentanyl detected in Nestande’s blood was considerably above the therapeutic stage of fentanyl of 0.2 ng per milliliter. The therapeutic stage, she defined, is the quantity that’s deemed secure to be prescribed by physicians for ache administration.
The toxicology report accomplished after Nestande’s post-mortem states that his blood contained fentanyl at a focus of 13.6 nanograms (ng) per milliliter of fentanyl and 5.0 ng per milliliter of norfentanyl, which she described as what fentanyl turns into when it has been processed by the physique.
Hetherington, the well being system’s department chief of epidemiology and program analysis, stated the 2 numbers being comparatively shut collectively means that the physique has had a while to course of fentanyl, whereas a decrease stage of norfentanyl would point out that somebody had died extra shortly after ingesting fentanyl. Nonetheless, she cautioned that there isn’t any option to inform from the post-mortem report alone how a lot fentanyl Nestande ingested, when it was ingested or why.
She added that there’s additionally nothing within the report that reveals if the fentanyl and cocaine have been contained in one other substance ingested by Nestande. The report didn’t straight point out any proof of fentanyl or cocaine being discovered at Nestande’s residence.
Fentanyl use a widespread social drawback
Whereas Hetherington stated the post-mortem report alone doesn’t present clear solutions concerning the circumstances that led Nestande to ingest the medicine, she stated the present fentanyl overdose disaster is one which has been proven to affect many strata of society.
“It isn’t identical to individuals who dwell on the streets or a continual individual with actually extreme drug habit,” stated Hetherington, who oversees the well being system’s Overdose Information to Motion program.
As an alternative, she stated overdoses typically consequence from folks taking substances that they don’t know the composition of, which is a threat anytime somebody purchases fentanyl from a non-pharmaceutical supply. She cited a current survey by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Faculty of Public Well being that discovered {that a} third of American adults know somebody who has died from a drug overdose and one other survey from the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) that discovered that fifty% of adults admit to utilizing illicit medicine of their lifetime and 25% stated they’d used them in 2022.
“Everybody is aware of somebody,” she stated of the prevalence of fentanyl and different harmful medicine.
Fentanyl, specifically, is harmful due to its excessive toxicity, which is a part of the rationale it has change into in style amongst those that make unlawful medicine within the first place as a result of drugmakers want so as to add much less of it than comparable medicine to provide the identical results.
DA has taken aggressive stance on fentanyl
Whereas the sheriff’s workplace confirmed there’s an investigation into Nestande’s loss of life, it declined to offer additional particulars about what particularly they have been investigating. A sheriff’s spokesperson, Sergeant Wenndy Brito-Gonzalez, declined to say whether or not investigators have been wanting into who offered Nestande the medicine.
A spokesman for the county district legal professional’s workplace, John Corridor, stated the workplace has not obtained a case from legislation enforcement concerning Nestande’s loss of life. Hestrin, the elected district legal professional, has been a vocal proponent of the necessity to “get robust” on individuals who provide fentanyl and stated his workplace is pursuing homicide prices when acceptable.
In November, a jury in Murrieta turned the primary within the state to discover a defendant responsible of homicide in such a case. Prosecutors stated that defendant, Vicente Romero, cut up a tablet with a 26-year-old lady, Kelsey King, who died from an overdose consequently.
“This verdict is a testomony to our unwavering dedication to defending our communities, offering justice for victims, and holding these accountable who have interaction within the distribution of illicit fentanyl leading to loss of life,” Hestrin stated on the time.
‘Like a brother’
In the meantime, those that knew Nestande proceed to recollect him whereas grappling together with his loss.
Hernandez informed The Desert Solar he was “like a brother” and “a terrific man” whose affect on him and the group lives on.
Amongst Nestande’s many roles in politics was working as then-U.S. Rep. Mary Bono’s chief of workers from 1998 to 2000. Nestande beforehand managed the marketing campaign for Sonny Bono, who was married to Mary till his loss of life in a snowboarding accident in 1998. She succeeded him in representing a district that included the Coachella Valley in Congress.
Mary Bono stated Friday that former workers members who labored for her and Sonny can be gathering in DC over the weekend for a reunion and celebration of Nestande.
Desert Solar workers author Tom Coulter contributed to this report.
Paul Albani-Burgio covers progress, improvement and enterprise within the Coachella Valley. Observe him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and e-mail him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.
This text initially appeared on Palm Springs Desert Solar: Sheriff investigating fentanyl overdose of ex-California lawmaker
