Six-year prison term ordered in drug trafficking case

Sentence is consecutive to a three-year term Denny is now serving
By: 
NEW Media Staff

An Oconto County woman implicated but not convicted in two fatal drug overdoses has been sentenced to six more years in prison, followed by 10 years of extended supervision, for drug trafficking in Marinette County.

Chasity Denny, 31, pleaded no contest in September to the manufacture and delivery of narcotics in Marinette County, as well as a separate charge of manufacturing and delivering cocaine.

Denny is one of two people who were charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the Feb. 17, 2019, fentanyl overdose of Terry Westphal of Pound. The drug trafficking charges were substituted for the homicide count in a plea negotiation with Denny.

On May 25 Marinette County Judge James A. Morrison sentenced Denny to five years in prison on the narcotics charge and one year on the cocaine charge, to be served consecutive to each other and any other sentence.

She is currently almost halfway through a three-year stint at Taycheedah Correctional Institution in Fond du Lac, to be followed by three years of extended supervision, for the manufacture and delivery of heroin.

An Oconto County jury found her guilty of drug trafficking but not guilty of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Jeffrey Dean Pecha on Sept. 12, 2018.

Two weeks after the Oconto County jury found her not guilty, Marinette County officials charged Denny and co-defendant Brian Blasing in Westphal’s death.

Morrison ruled that Denny may have no contact with Blasing, the victim’s family, or any known drug users or dealers except in a treatment setting. She must cooperate with all assessments and counseling deemed appropriate by the Department of Corrections, including alcohol and other drug abuse and mental health assessments.

Blasing, meanwhile, was found guilty May 20 at the conclusion of a jury trial on the original charges of first-degree reckless homicide and manufacturing and delivering cocaine. Morrison scheduled sentencing for Aug. 20 and ordered a pre-sentence investigation.