State Rep. Dane Watro

A state lawmaker is continuing his push to extend the amount of time for prosecutors to charge individuals who deliver drugs that result in another person’s death.

Rep. Dane Watro, R-Hazleton, has introduced legislation (House Bill 2279) that would extend the statute of limitations in such cases from two years to five years. The bill R-Luzerne/Schuylkill) said Tuesday he and his colleagues are continuing to push for improvements to prosecutors’ ability to go after individuals who deliver drugs that result in death. The bill has 10 co-sponsors, including two Democrats.

Watro said several district attorneys and the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association have said the two-year limitation has hampered prosecution of drug dealing that results in death, a first-degree felony issued to a person who intentionally administers, dispenses, delivers, gives, prescribes, sells or distributes any controlled substance, when another person dies after using the substance..

According to the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania, from 2024 to 2025, DDRD charges decreased by 22% and convictions decreased by 72%.

“By extending the statute of limitations from two years to five, this legislative oversight will be addressed, and we will be better able to bring parties who are responsible for a fatal overdose to justice,” said Watro.

Watro renewed his push this week after SpotlightPA published a report Monday detailing a push to expand prosecutions of drug dealing resulting in death and issues advocates have raised with the state law. According to information from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, there were two prosecutions of drug delivery resulting in death prosecutions in Warren County from 2020 through 2024. There were three in McKean County and none in Forest County. Elk County, with a smaller population than Warren County, had 22 prosecutions of drug delivery resulting in death charges over the same time frame, the second-highest in the state per 100,000 residents behind only Perry County.

Critics of the existing state law say the statute frequently results in charges against drug users rather than large-scale dealers.

Pennsylvania originally passed the Drug Delivery Resulting in Death (DDRD) statute in 1989. A 2011 revision of state law reclassified the offense and effectively removed the requirement that prosecutors prove the dealer acted with malice.

Watro’s bill isn’t the only proposal to change the statute of limitations for drug delivery resulting in death charges. Sen. Michele Brooks, R-Greenville, also proposes a five-year statute of limitations in Senate Bill 79, which has been introduced in the past two legislative sessions. Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Wellsboro, proposes eliminating the statute of limitations entirely.