Plea Bargain Made In Long Running Martha's Vineyard Fentanyl Case

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MA — More than three years after a woman died in her home on Martha's Vineyard from a fentanyl-related overdose, a man receives a suspended jail sentence and three years probation on drug possession charges.

Jason Willoughby, 35, pleaded guilty to a charge of distributing fentanyl in Barnstable superior court on Monday.

Court documents show he was sentenced to two and a half years at a house of correction, with credit for 341 days of time he served and the remainder of his jail sentence suspended.

Willoughby was released from custody and placed on probation for three years, with an order including no drug or alcohol use. A trial by jury was originally scheduled the day after the new plea deal was made.

According to the Vineyard Gazette, the case began after a woman was found dead in her home of an apparent overdose in February 2018. According to police reports filed in court, prosecutors alleged that Willoughby sold the woman’s boyfriend heroin laced with fentanyl that led to her overdose.

Willoughby was originally charged with manslaughter and other drug law violations, but the manslaughter charge was dropped by the district attorney’s office in early 2020 after a state Supreme Judicial Court ruling reinforced the standard of proof for manslaughter convictions in drug-related overdose cases, as first reported by the Vineyard Gazette.