Justin Fortin died in October 2023 at his aunt's Magnolia home after buying fentanyl from James Carter-Smith at a northwest Houston strip mall.
"He took my child away," said Fortin's mother, Christine.
Tuesday, a jury sentenced Carter-Smith to 50 years in prison, roughly half the possible 99-year sentence.
It's only the second murder conviction of its kind since Texas' fentanyl murder law went into effect. It allows those who supply fentanyl to be charged with murder if the drugs cause a death.
"While he didn't necessarily intend to kill him, he had knowledge that he was selling fentanyl pills that did cause the death of our victim," said Laura Bond, the Chief Assistant District Attorney for Montgomery County.
Prosecutors say they try to use discretion when deciding whether to charge someone under the law.
"You don't want to use a fentanyl murder charge on, you know, a young person who is not a drug dealer, right. Not somebody who's profiting off of the misery of others," said Donna Hansen, a chief prosecutor with the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office.
After returning home from military service, Fortin's family says he suffered from a brain injury, back pain, and PTSD.
They say he also struggled with guilt, and eventually with alcohol and drugs.
"He did something that was morally unethical in his opinion, and he just could not overcome that," said Christine Fortin.
Roughly two-thirds of U.S. states now have some sort of drug-induced homicide law. Many were enacted within the law few years in response to the opioid crisis.
"I didn't even know what fentanyl was. I had never heard of it, didn't know what it was until they told me it, and I had to look it up," said Christine Fortin.
For news updates, follow Luke Jones on Facebook, X and Instagram.