Nevada proposal would add selling deadly fentanyl to first-degree murder charge
Senate Bill 153 from Republican State Sen. John Steinbeck would deem selling, giving or trading drugs 'inherently dangerous' in the eyes of the law. Voters elected Steinbeck in November as he served as chief of the Clark County Fire Department. He retired in January before the start of the legislative session.
First-degree murder, the highest charge involving the death of another person, involves a willful or premeditated crime. Second-degree murder generally consists of a death where police and prosecutors believe there was no intent to kill.
Current Nevada law allows prosecutors to charge a person who provided a deadly dose of fentanyl, whether they knew it or not, with second-degree murder.
Should the bill become law, a person could be charged with first-degree murder should police arrest them for providing the fentanyl that killed another person. The charge also applies to any drug mixture with fentanyl in it.
All other controlled substances would remain under the second-degree charge.
In 2023, 302 people died from overdoses involving fentanyl in Clark County — a 28% increase from 2022. Data from 2024 was not finalized because toxicology results can take months to process.
In April 2024, the federal government reported fentanyl was the leading cause of death for Americans between 18 and 49 years old. As the 8 News Now Investigators have previously reported, the Drug Enforcement Agency said the majority of fentanyl coming into the United States is smuggled through ports of entry.
A file photo of blue fentanyl pills is shown in this story as an example of what police are finding across Clark County.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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