Judge hands down prison sentence in overdose death case

Andrea J. Walker of Bangor will spend seven years in prison for her role in the overdose death of a 45-year-old Rhinelander man in January 2023.
Oneida County circuit judge Mary Sowinski handed down the sentence, which includes five years of extended supervision after the confinement portion is served, after hearing the state’s recommendation of 11 years confinement and defense counsel’s request for five years confinement.
Walker, 44, was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide/drug delivery (as party to the crime) on Aug. 1 following a four-day jury trial.
The jury heard testimony from relatives of the victim, members of law enforcement who investigated the death, toxicology analysts and experts, as well as the defendant herself before rendering their verdict.
In her closing argument to the jury, assistant attorney general Kari Hoffman, who prosecuted the case with Oneida County district attorney Jillian Pfeifer, detailed the timeline and evidence, including messages, phone records and witness testimony linking Walker and the victim to a transaction involving the delivery of methamphetamine and fentanyl in the La Crosse area in late January 2023.
Hoffman made the sentencing argument on behalf of the state. She stressed that the state does not believe Walker has taken full responsibility for her actions or expressed remorse. She also noted that Walker admitted to using drugs during the trial. Walker started smoking marijuana at the age of 12, well before she suffered injuries that resulted in first the use of prescription opioids and then heroin. Hoffman also noted Walker’s criminal history and the multiple opportunities she has had to seek treatment for her addiction.
“She’s been given opportunities to change. She has not taken those opportunities and because of her direct actions (the victim) lost his life,” she said.
Pfeifer then interjected briefly to stress that the victim was found dead by his teenage child. She stated that she didn’t want the court to lose sight of the enormity of the family’s loss.
Members of the family were present in the courtroom but declined to address the court.
For his part, defense attorney Steven Sawyer argued a shorter sentence was appropriate due to Walker’s difficult childhood, severe addiction and cooperation with law enforcement. He was adamant that Walker understands the wrongfulness of her actions and is deeply sorry for the role she played in the victim’s death. He stressed that her decision to take the case to trial was not the result of a failure to accept responsibility for her actions. There was a legitimate question as to whether the drugs she helped the victim obtain took his life and that question had to be answered by a jury at trial,
He also noted that the victim was the one who contacted Walker looking for drugs, she did not seek him out. For her part in the transaction, she received a portion of heroin to feed her own addiction, he stated.
“We can all agree certainly, in hindsight, that she should never have helped him, but to say that she’s deserving of more than a decade in prison would indicate that she intended to do something or she took risks that were well known to her,” he said. “ I can tell you she wishes she had never done that. I can tell you that she wishes that when she was first prescribed opiate-based pain medication that she would have refused. The doctors at that point in her life didn’t know how dangerous those substances were.”
Given her chance to speak, Walker tearfully apologized to the victim’s family. She stated that she did not expect them to forgive her or forget but she hoped that they would believe that she is sincerely remorseful.
“Because of my poor decisions and actions, an amazing man, father, veteran, son, brother and friend is no longer with us,” she said.”I’m deeply sorry I helped him that day. I should have said no, but in my own selfishness, in my addiction to opiates, I helped him. I regret that decision every day.”
Before pronouncing sentence, Sowinski noted that while the circumstances of Walker’s early life shed some light on her current position, the difficulties she suffered as a child cannot be used to justify her actions as an adult. She also stressed that she would love to be in a position to sentence others who participated in the chain of drug manufacturing and delivery that resulted in the victim’s death but that’s not possible.
“Any break in the chain could have saved (the victim) from this fate,” she said. “The whole thing is just tragic, and nothing this court does is going to help any of it. But the one thing the court can do is put Ms. Walker somewhere where she, first of all, cannot hurt anyone else as the result of her addiction. And secondly, hopefully, once and for all, finally, in her life will be able to move beyond it.”