Dad who provided heroin that caused son’s OD headed to prison
A Connecticut man is going to prison for providing the heroin that killed his 25-year-old son.
Mark Lynch, 58, is expected to spend three years behind bars under a plea deal agreed to Friday in the overdose death of his son, Christopher Lynch, according to the Stamford Advocate.
The former New Canaan resident initially pleaded not guilty to second-degree manslaughter in December but reportedly changed his mind because of the lengthier prison sentence that he could have been facing.
Lynch wound up copping to criminally-negligent-homicide and sales-of-narcotics charges in court in connection with his son’s death in September 2016.
“This has been a long road, and this isn’t the way I exactly thought it was going to end,” said Pam Bacco, the mother of Christopher.
“But hopefully now I can find some peace,” she told the Advocate.
While Lynch accepted the terms of the plea deal, the judge refused to immediately accept it, saying he would instead wait until the father is officially sentenced on Dec. 15. According to prosecutors, this was because of Bacco’s initial refusal to support the sentence. But the mom later told reporters that she is now OK with the punishment.
“This is a tragic situation,” said State Attorney Richard Colangelo. “There is no amount of time that Mark Lynch can serve that will bring back [Bacco’s] son. This is a tragic situation that is occurring all too often in our society now.”
Christopher Lynch was reportedly one of more than 900 people who died of overdoses last year in the state of Connecticut. He had been at his father’s residence when he was given the heroin that took his life.
“Mark mourns the loss of his son every day and will always have to live with his part in his son’s death,” Lynch’s lawyer, Matthew Maddox, told the Advocate.
“He hopes that the conclusion of this case will help the many people who loved Chris to heal as best they can.”