A Dane County judge sentenced 18-year-old Morgan Fenick Wednesday to serve one year in jail and seven years probation for the reckless homicide of former University of Wisconsin student Sarah Stellner.

Fenick received the sentence yesterday, almost one year after Stellner was pronounced dead last April in their Langdon Street apartment due to a heroin overdose — Fenick was charged with reckless homicide because she had injected Stellner, her best friend, with the heroin.

Though the incident happened when Fenick was 17 years old, prosecuting attorney Jason Hanson said by Wisconsin law, Fenick must be charged as an adult.

“The argument in favor of her receiving time of incarceration was that it was a significant event, the death of a young person,” Hanson remarked.

Fenick was also recommended to an Alcohol Drug and Assessment program, and must seek and maintain full-time employment or education, or a combination of the two.

Additional probation conditions include urinalysis at an agent's discretion and no contact with the Stellner family except in writing or by the family's discretion.

Hanson said Fenick had the potential of facing up to 40 years in prison, but added her young age may have played in favor of a lighter sentence.

Katz and Daley injected themselves with the heroin they had previously bought, and saved some for Stellner and Fenick because the girls had bought them drinks, the report states.

The next morning, police responded to calls from the Langdon Street apartment that a person wasn't breathing and had no pulse, and a Dane County coroner pronounced Stellner dead approximately 30 minutes after police arrived.

Attorney Paul Schwartz, Fenick's defense lawyer, said he pushed for Fenick to receive only probation without any jail time, but added he was not surprised with the judge's decision.

According to UW Law School professor Krista Ralston, such specifications of Fenick's sentence means Fenick will be allowed to leave jail for possible work purposes.

But if Fenick breaks parole while on probation, Ralston said the court can reconsider the sentence, which may have been recommended through Fenick's pre-sentence investigation.

When Fenick answered questions at the pre-sentence investigation, Hanson noted she said she “wasn't sure” if she was going to abandon her drug-using lifestyle.

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