Pubdate: Thu, 05 Oct 2006
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Stephen Hunt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

DRAPER MAN GETS YEAR IN JAIL FOR ROLE IN HEROIN DEATH

WEST JORDAN - Jasen Calacino, a 20-year-old Draper man who last year 
helped dispose of the body of a young woman who died of a heroin 
overdose, was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail.

But first, Calacino got a lecture from the victim's mother about why 
the crime can be so devastating to family members. Kathryn Sorich 
said that after 18-year-old Amelia Sorich disappeared, she and her 
family lived with terror of the unknown until a passerby discovered 
the body in the foothills above Bountiful. Then the family had to 
deal with the reality of her death, as well as the grisly fact that 
after two days of exposure to sun and insects, Amelia's remains were 
ravaged beyond the restoration powers of any mortician. She said 
Amelia's funeral was a closed-casket affair.

Amelia died the night of June 25, 2005, after her friend, 18-year-old 
Macall Petersen, twice injected her with a mixture of heroin and 
cocaine, known as a speedball. When Calacino - who was Petersen's 
boyfriend - discovered the unconscious teen, he tried to revive her 
with CPR. And although Calacino at one point picked up a phone 
intending to call 911, Petersen talked him out of it - afraid 
exposure of their drug use would violate her juvenile probation agreement.

Calacino helped Petersen by carrying the body to the victim's car, 
driving to Davis County and hiding the body under some weeds. 
Calacino and Macall left the victim's car in a North Salt Lake 
parking lot and threw the dead woman's cell phone and purse into a trash bin.

Earlier this year, Petersen pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony 
desecration charge and one count of negligent homicide, a class A 
misdemeanor. Third District Judge Royal Hansen sent her to prison for 
up to six years.

On Wednesday, Hansen agreed Calacino - who had pleaded guilty to 
third-degree felony desecration of a dead human body - was less 
culpable than Petersen, but still needed to be punished. A year in 
jail "sends a message to everyone that what you did won't be 
tolerated," the judge told Calacino. Calacino must also complete 36 
months of probation by paying a $1,000 fine, completing thinking 
errors class and paying restitution.

Prosecutor Sean Torriente had asked for "some" jail time, but said 
one of the state's major goals was obtaining a felony conviction. The 
prosecutor said that because of a recent rash of overdose/body 
dumpings, his office has adopted a policy of refusing to plea-bargain 
desecration cases.

He said defendants can plead as charged or go to trial. Torriente 
noted that because his recommendation for Petersen had been a year in 
jail, his recommendation for Calacino was for less than a year.

Calacino's defense attorney, Greg Skordas, had argued strenuously 
against any jail time. Skordas said Calacino had been "straight up 
from Day 1" by turning himself in to police, admitting his actions, 
pleading guilty as charged and even meeting with the victim's mother 
to answer questions about the case.

Calacino apologized to the Sorich family, saying he hoped they could 
one day forgive him, and he promised he would never again break the 
law. He said that on the night Amelia Sorich died, his "first 
instinct" had been to call police. "Now I'll have to live with that," he said.

After the hearing, Kathryn Sorich told news reporters that during her 
meeting with Calacino, he had diagrammed Petersen's kitchen and where 
he had found Amelia's body. Sorich said she now believes a gash on 
her daughter's forehead was inflicted by Petersen, because the injury 
could not have come from falling and hitting a countertop.

"I'm convinced that Amelia was unconscious when Macall injected her 
[with drugs]," Sorich said. She said she believes Petersen injected 
her daughter out of spite because of a phone call Amelia had made to 
Petersen's father, which resulted in Petersen's going back to 
juvenile detention. Petersen's attorney claims Amelia asked Petersen 
for the drugs.
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