ST. PAUL, Minn. – A federal jury returned a guilty verdict on all 17 counts against a Hopkins drug dealer, Aaron Broussard, for selling fentanyl and killing 11 people and injuring perhaps dozens of otters. Aaron Broussard, 31, faces possible life in prison. The judge delayed sentencing. The trial lasted almost two weeks. Broussard’s attorney offered no witnesses but noted that autopsies had not identified fentanyl as a cause of the 11 deaths. The defense claimed also hat Broussard didn’t know the drugs, which he acquired from China, had lethal content. Prosecutors responded that Broussard had been alerted to a problem but kept selling the tainted drugs anyway. The sales were through Broussard’s website, PlantFoodUSA.net, which he operated from his apartment in Hopkins. The site carried a disclaimer, “not for human consumption,” but that, said the prosecutor, was illusory as an excuse.
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Broussard. His defense arguments didn’t pass muster with jury in 10-day trial.