Small-town defense lawyer, shaken by client's overdose, advocates tough new approach: Treat heroin dealers like terrorists

OTTAWA, Ill. - Defense attorney Eric Miskell represented numerous drug dealers over the years, and by his account he was good at his job. He knew how to find loopholes and technicalities that would get testimony stricken, evidence thrown out and charges dropped.

But three months ago, he underwent a radical change of heart about his work when a former client named Nickie Martin was found slumped over on a motel room bed. She had died from a heroin and fentanyl overdose.

Miskell was stunned. He had seen Martin only a few hours earlier, and as far as he knew, she was doing well. She had gotten good reports from the center where she received treatment for her long-standing addiction and had recently regained custody of two of her children.

Her death was the kind of tragedy that has become commonplace in this small community 75 miles southwest of Chicago. LaSalle County had 39 fatal overdoses in 2018, which, given its population of 110,000, amounted to one of the highest opioid-related