Watertown man convicted of reckless homicide after giving heroin to woman

WATERTOWN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A 50-year-old Watertown man, Terance Jannke, was convicted in Dodge County Court Thursday for killing Holly Nehls by giving her a lethal dose of heroin. Jannke gave the heroin to Gabriel Brandl who then injected 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 the death 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.

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 on Warbler Way in Watertown.

During closing arguments, Klomberg told the jury, “He provided heroin to all these people. Holly died from this heroin. And what did Jannke do? He bragged that his heroin was ‘so good it killed someone,’ as if this was some kind of macabre marketing tool. And then continued to sell.”

Sentencing is scheduled  for January 8, 2018.

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