GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The daughter of a state lawmaker has been sentenced for providing the drugs that killed a pregnant woman.
Cassie Nygren, 30, was convicted in the June 2017 death of Jennifer Skeen. Skeen died of a heroin/fentanyl overdose, according to the criminal complaint.
In court Thursday. Nygren was sentenced to 13 years in prison and 17 years extended supervision.
Cassie Nygren showed up to court with a smile on her face but tears quickly replaced it when a photo of Jennifer Skeen was placed next to the judge.
Skeen was 6 and a half months pregnant when she was given heroin laced with fentanyl by Nygren and her boyfriend
Nygren’s boyfriend, Shawn Gray, was also convicted in the case. He was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison last June. Dontreace Saulsberry has been charged with supplying the drugs to Gray and Nygren.
“The heroin the two of them provided to Skeen was in fact the heroin that killed her,” said Sgt. Roman Aronstein with the Brown County Sheriff’s office.
The state’s attorney said she called on Sgt. Aronstein to point out this wasn’t just a drug deal gone bad, but a pattern with Nygren before and after Skeen’s death.
“Now when she’s in the jail, she’s soliciting to others and delivering to others,” she said referring to the charge of delivering illegal articles to an inmate.
Nygren told the judge heroin was at the root of her choices.
“Heroin prayed on me at my weakest moments it beat me and it kicked me when I was down. It lied to me and filled me with false promises,” she said. “Heroin brought me to places I never would’ve never gone. It had me do things I never thought I would do. But now this situation takes the cake.”
Nygren’s lawyer argued she was under the control of her boyfriend, Shawn Gray, calling it a trafficking situation.
Before his final sentencing the judge read from a handful of statements given on Nygren’s behalf. Including one from her father.
“Mr. Nygren says she was always a happy loving and caring child with an infectious personality, a good student, a natural leader,” said Judge John Zakowski.
Nygren is the daughter of State Rep. John Nygren. The Marinette Republican has said his daughter’s struggle with addiction prompted him to sponsor various bills aimed at combating the opioid epidemic.
Rep. John Nygren was not at his daughters sentencing.
Nygren already has two years served in her sentence.
