Watertown man sentenced to 20 years in prison for supplying heroin that killed woman

DODGE COUNTY, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A 50-year-old man from Watertown was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison for supplying a woman with a lethal dose of heroin. 

Terance Jannke will also serve 10 years extended supervision after his prison sentence. 

Jannke gave the heroin to Gabriel Brandl who then injected Holly Nehls with the drug, causing her death. Brandl drove with Nehls body in the front seat of a car for several hours before finally taking her to the Watertown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Brandl was convicted of first degree reckless homicide for his part in November of 2016.

Under Wisconsin law, if a person delivers controlled substances and then a person dies as a result of drug use, the supplier can be convicted of homicide. Anyone in the chain of delivery is considered responsible for the death. This is known as a “Len Bias’ homicide, named after Bias, college basketball player who died of a drug overdose.

Jannke was also convicted of maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession with intent to deliver heroin following a four day trial in October.

During the trial several heroin users took the stand and told the court that Jannke was their long-time, reliable heroin dealer. They recounted buying drugs from him regularly from his bedroom in a mobile home in Watertown.