{"id":273518,"date":"2026-04-18T01:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T01:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/273518\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T01:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T01:46:09","slug":"5-years-later-justice-handed-down-in-fentanyl-death-of-olivia-patla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/273518\/","title":{"rendered":"5 years later, justice handed down in fentanyl death of Olivia Patla"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Five years later, a Clovis man learned his fate in court after a drug he sold took the life of Olivia Patla.<\/a><\/p>\n

“My family has a lifetime of a sentence, and we are going to survive and he may have broken us a little, but we are going to be stronger,” said Rene Patla.<\/p>\n

Before sentencing, 165 letters from family and friends were submitted to the court.<\/p>\n

The judge told the family he personally read every one before handing down today’s decision.<\/p>\n

“No sentence is going to bring the victim back and, in some circumstances, it will not ease the pain of the family, however, accountability is essential,” said Fresno County Judge Raj Singh Badhesha.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Fresno County Superior Court Judge Raj Singh Badhesha sentenced Lakota Wakley to the maximum sentence, five years, to be served consecutively after his current federal prison term.<\/p>\n

RELATED – Killer High: Fresno family turns grief into a mission after daughter’s fentanyl death<\/a><\/p>\n

Wakley pleaded no contest to selling a fentanyl pill that killed Olivia Patla on May 31 of 2021.<\/p>\n

“We’re not happy that was the max. Do we feel like justice was served, no, not really,” said Olivia’s mother.<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone in the courtroom was a friend or family member of Olivia, many wearing shirts reading “Justice for Liv.”<\/p>\n

One by one, Olivia’s parents, siblings, and grandfather shared deeply emotional statements, describing the light she brought into their lives and the pain they’ve carried for the past five years.<\/p>\n

“My siblings and I constantly have small highs and very bad lows and days when we feel very angry for no reason but the sense of our sister no longer being there with us,” said Olivia’s older brother.<\/p>\n

Her mother, taking a deep breath, while sharing the moment she last saw Olivia, being taken away on a stretcher.<\/p>\n

“It felt like somebody was taking the whole life out of me and my breath,” said Rene, “I will never smile the way I smiled before she died.”<\/p>\n

The family says their strength comes from a shared purpose, making sure no other family endures the same loss.<\/p>\n

Wakley stood silently in court, expressionless, as the sentence was read.<\/p>\n

While the maximum penalty in this case is five years, with the passage of Proposition 36 in 2024, future cases involving the sale of illegal drugs that result in death could now lead to murder charges.<\/p>\n

“That is probably the only comfort we get out of this. We know that because of Olivia, there are laws that are changing. There are people living because of her,” said Rene.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Olivia’s life, her family’s fight to raise fentanyl awareness, their story is featured in our series “Killer High: The Silent Crisis.”<\/a><\/p>\n

WATCH: Killer High: The Silent Crisis<\/a> <\/p>\n

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For news updates, follow Elisa Navarro on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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