A cocaine dealer who dragged an overdosing dermatologist out of his apartment and left her to die last year received a five-year prison sentence on Thursday.

As Crime Online previously reported, dealer James (Pepsi) Holder, 61, and HBO executive Marc Johnson, 52, confessed to leaving Dr. Kiersten Rickenbach Cerveny, 38, in the vestibule of Holder’s Manhattan apartment building in October. Police discovered the unresponsive dermatologist inside of an apartment door. The 38-year-old later died at a nearby hospital.

An investigation found that Johnson and Dr. Cerveny went to Holder’s Chelsea pad following a night of drinking and cocaine use. Hours later, surveillance cameras caught the pair discarding the doctor’s body in the lobby.

The Daily News wrote that Holder also admitted to selling drugs out of his home for nearly a decade.

Though Holder was a confessed drug dealer, Manhattan federal judge Jesse Furman determined there was no evidence that the 61-year-old’s drug-dealing business killed the mother of three, according to the New York Post. The defendant’s lawyer, Matthew Kluger, argued that Johnson and Dr. Cerveny were in a separate bedroom and that Holder was unaware of what transpired on the night in question.

“He obviously should have taken steps to help,” the judge commented. “[Dr. Cerveny] may well have overdosed as a result of the drugs and alcohol she consumed earlier in the evening.”

This distinction led to Holder being sentenced to five years behind bars. Prosecutors sought between six-and-a-half and eight years bid for the dealer.

Johnson reportedly admitted to moving the doctor’s body in March. Plea proceedings obtained by the Daily News revealed that prosecutors plan to recommend an 18-to-24 month sentence.

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