Amityville man sentenced to 16 years in prison for drug conviction, Suffolk DA says

A judge Tuesday sentenced an Amityville man to 16 years in prison after Suffolk prosecutors said they won a drug sale conviction for the first time using toxicology from someone who fatally overdosed on fentanyl as evidence rather than seized narcotics.

A jury in November convicted Austin Hunter, 43, of two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance and using drug paraphernalia, according to authorities.

Investigators linked Hunter to a fatal overdose in April 2019 in Copiague after the deceased’s cell phone revealed evidence that he bought drugs from the defendant, District Attorney Timothy Sini’s office said.

The Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office determined a fentanyl overdose caused the male drug user’s death, according to prosecutors.

Then in May 2019, Long Island Heroin Task Force agents arrested Hunter during an undercover operation set up to buy drugs from him, according to prosecutors. They seized fentanyl at the scene, where Hunter was in a car with another person, the district attorney's office said.

"We think this serves justice and sends a strong message to the community that drug dealers will not get away with killing people," Sini said of Hunter's sentence in an interview later Tuesday.

Prosecutors also used cell phone evidence to place Hunter and the male who later overdosed in the same location around the time the fentanyl sale took place, the district attorney said.

But Hunter’s attorney, Christopher Gioe, said in an interview Tuesday that his client continues to maintain his innocence and will pursue an appeal of his conviction.

One of Hunter’s appellate issues will be that he was never charged with causing someone’s death, but jurors heard about a fatality in court before convicting him, according to the Hauppauge defense attorney.

"This is very highly prejudicial evidence and he believes he was convicted on that and not the facts of the case," Gioe added.

The fall trial took place amid the coronavirus pandemic and marked the first felony trial conviction in Suffolk by a jury after the first stoppage in jury trials that began in mid-March.

Gioe said measures taken to protect against coronavirus during the trial present other appellate issues in the case, including that jurors were masked and seated in an unconventional configuration.

The defense attorney also pointed out that his client wasn't convicted in connection with drugs seized by task force agents.

Sini declined to address Gioe’s comments about appellate arguments, saying prosecutors would respond during the appellate court process.

"We’re satisfied with the jury conviction. We’re satisfied with the sentence," the district attorney added.