Blaine man gets 10 years in friend's 2C-E overdose death - New York News | NYC Breaking News

After accepting a plea bargain to avoid federal charges, a 22-year-old Blaine man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly 10 years in prison for the providing the synthetic drugs that killed one of his friends.

Last March, Trevor Robinson died after taking a synthetic hallucinogen that sent 11 people to the hospital in what police described as a "mass overdose" during a party.

Timothy Lamere cooperated with authorities throughout the investigation and admitted to buying the designer drug known as 2C-E on the Internet. In court, he apologized to the victims, saying, "If I could go back and change it, I would."

Lamere was sentenced to 117 months in prison for third-degree unintentional murder, but Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo did not celebrate the sentence.

"There is no triumph for the criminal justice in this sentence, but only great sadness," he said. "One young man lost his life and his friend is going to prison."

Last month, Lamere accepted a plea bargain to avoid federal charges that could have doubled his prison time.

Palumbo continued, saying "Experimenting with dangerous drugs can lead to a result that no one intends. Unfortunately, the worst result happened here."

The victim's mother did not appear in court, saying it was too hard for her. She did give a statement to say she didn't want Lamere to go to prison, instead suggesting intensive drug treatment.

"Tim is not a criminal. He is a very young man that made bad choices," her statement read.

The judge explained he was not sentencing Lamere to prison because he is a bad person, saying it was simply because he committed a crime. He also told Lamere his life has meaning because he has an important story to tell that could save countless lives.