CEDARBURG TEEN PLEADS GUILTY IN HEROIN OVERDOSE

Port Washington - Cedarburg teenager Caitlin Schuette pleaded guilty
Tuesday to helping provide heroin to a friend, Angela Raettig, 17,
resulting in Raettig's overdose death.

Schuette's guilty plea to one count of first-degree reckless homicide
by delivery of drugs represents the first conviction in a series of
heroin cases in Ozaukee County in the past 6 months.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Joseph D. McCormack set Oct. 9 for
sentencing Schuette, 17, who was charged in December under the
state's so-called "Len Bias law."

The law allows for someone who provides drugs that are a "substantial
factor" in a death to be prosecuted for homicide. The law is named
after a University of Maryland basketball player who died of a drug
overdose in 1986.

According to a criminal complaint, Schuette and Benjamin R. Stibbe,
23, of Grafton helped obtain the heroin Nov. 29 from a dealer in
Milwaukee. Raettig injected some of the heroin, according to a
criminal complaint, and was found dead in her bed the next morning.

Ozaukee County District Attorney Sandy Williams recommended Schuette
be sentenced to "a period of incarceration" but did not specify how long.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in state prison.

Williams requested that sentencing be set for October so Schuette
could continue in a drug rehabilitation program.

Meanwhile, Stibbe's lawyer argued in court Tuesday that the heroin
dosage taken by Raettig might not have been enough to kill her and
asked to be allowed to inspect Raettig's medical records to learn
more about her drug history, including what other drugs she might
have been taking.

William Mayer argued that Raettig's history of heroin use might have
caused her to build up such a resistance to the drug that the dosage
she took that night in November might not have been enough to kill
her, suggesting that her death may have been caused by a combination
of other drugs or medications she was taking.

An autopsy concluded that Raettig died of "heroin toxicity."

Assistant District Attorney Adam Gerol and McCormack wondered whether
Mayer's doubts were relevant to the case since the state does not
have to prove that heroin caused Raettig's death, only that it was a
substantial factor contributing to her death.

Stibbe is in custody in the Ozaukee County Jail. Schuette was freed
earlier this year after posting $30,000 bail.