A former US Army soldier broke down in tears after being jailed for 15 months for supplying a fatal dose of the drug MDMA to a woman at a New York City music festival two years ago.
At his sentencing, Lagaria Slaughter apologized for selling the drugs that caused the death of 20-year-old Katherine Schlegel at the Electric Zoo music festival in New York City in 2018, according to the New York Post.
Schlegel, who was a college student from New Cannan, Connecticut, was not a regular user of drugs.
She overdosed and died two days later in hospital.
'I want the family and friends of the victim to know that the person I was back then is not who I am, but a selfish and inconsiderate child wrapped up in something I should not have been,' Slaughter said at a remote sentencing hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Lagaria Slaughter supplied a fatal dose of the party drug Molly, to 20-year-old Katherine Schlegel at the Electric Zoo music festival in 2018
Katherine Schlegel, 20, overdosed after taking the drug and died two days later in a NY hospital
Slaughter was a specialist in the Army who was discharged following his arrest.
He noted that he had been diagnosed with 'bipolar depression' since the incident and told the court that he had since found work in a care home.
'I spent the rest of my military career trapped inside my depression as I tried to cope with the events that had taken place,' he said.
Slaughter was stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York and had traveled to the city on the weekend of the festival with another soldier.
The pair arranged to buy 57 molly tablets to use with Schlegel and her friend while at the gig.
Slaughter broke down during a court hearing as he apologized for peddling the drug
Slaughter sold the drugs at the Electric Zoo music festival in 2018 on Randall's Island
'I will be forever haunted, thinking about her just trapped in her last moments. Was she scared? Was she conscious? Was she wondering where I was?' asked her mother, Elena Schlegel at the hearing.
'Our daughter was the most beautiful, loving, young lady you could ever know. She loved going to concerts. She loved music. She was not a regular drug user,' Schlegel added saying she was devastated by her daughter's premature death.
Before Slaughter was arrested, investigators looked through his barracks onto to uncover 10 capsules of Molly, 55 doses of LSD, psychedelic mushrooms, a scale and other drug paraphernalia.
Slaughter has been instructed to turn himself in to a federal prison facility in April.
Schlegel overdosed after taking the drug and died two days later in a New York City hospital
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