Mallery James, Sandy Springs, Georgia woman arrested after selling fentanyl laced pills leading to her childhood friend, Makayla Peacock to die of a fentanyl drug overdose. Law makers utilize ‘Austin’s Law.’
A Georgia woman has been charged in the death of a 19 year old teen after selling her fentanyl laced pills in a Taco Bell parking lot in Sandy Springs.
Makayla Peacock, 19, died June 6 after her mother came home and found her daughter slumped over and unresponsive in bed according to a Facebook release from Sandy Springs Police.
Arrested over a month later was her childhood friend, Mallery James, also 19. The teen has since been charged with aggravated manslaughter causing a fentanyl overdose, police said.
Lawmakers utilize ‘Austin’s Law’
‘Life-saving measures were put into play, and, unfortunately, we were not able to revive her,’ Sgt. Leon Millholland with Sandy Springs Police of the day Peacock was found unresponsive, FOX5 reported.
A toxicology report later determined that Peacock had overdosed on fentanyl after eating laced pills.
According to the arrest affidavit, the two friends met up in the parking lot of a Forsyth County Taco Bell, where Peacock bought $100 in pills.
James of Forsyth County was arrested on July 25 under ‘Austin’s Law,’ which was named after Austin Walters, who died from a fentanyl-laced pill in 2021, WSB-TV reported.
Austin’s Law allows for the conviction of anyone who causes someone to die by the manufacturing or selling of a substance containing fentanyl.
The law allows for dealers to be charged even if they claim they didn’t know pills or narcotics sold had fentanyl in it.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
‘You’ve got two females that grew up as friends in the same neighborhood, and now one is gone and one’s looking at possible time in prison,’ Sgt. Millholland said.
‘We just encourage people to always be aware of what you’re putting in your bodies and also be aware of what activity you’re getting involved in,’ Millholland reiterated.
James was taken to Fulton County Jail, where she was later released after making $50,000 bond on Monday.
If James is found guilty, she faces at least 10 years in prison.
