Watertown heroin dealer convicted in woman’s overdose

JUNEAU, Wis. — A Watertown man was convicted Thursday of reckless homicide in a woman’s drug overdose in May 2016, according to a news release.

Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg’s Office said 50-year-old Terance Jannke was convicted of causing the death of Holly Nehls by supplying her with a lethal dose of heroin.

Jannke gave the heroin to Gabriel Brandl, who then injected Nehls with the drug, causing her death, the DA’s office said. Brandl drove with Nehls’s body in the front seat of a vehicle for several hours before taking her to the Watertown Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Brandl was convicted in November of first-degree reckless homicide in the case .

The DA’s office said anyone in the chain of delivery in a controlled-substance overdose death can be considered responsible for the death. It’s called a “Len Bias” homicide, named after the college basketball player who died in 1986 of a cocaine overdose.

Following a four-day trial, Jannke was also convicted of maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession with intent to deliver heroin.

During the trial, several heroin users testified that Jannke was their long-time heroin dealer, and that they bought drugs from him regularly from his bedroom in a mobile home on Warbler Way in Watertown.

Klomberg said Jannke bragged that his heroin was “so good it killed someone,” according to the release.

Jannke is scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 8.

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