Impact of opioid crisis plays out in another courtroom scene

Erick Treu and his son Eric shown years earlier before Erick died of heroin and fentanyl overdose in January 2016. A Milwaukee man was sentenced to 9 years in prison Friday Dec. 1, 2017, for Treu's death.(Photo: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Another sentencing hearing Friday presented another tableau about the collateral damage left by the ongoing epidemic of opioid addiction, that claimed Erick Treu, 34, of Cudahy, one of nearly 300 such victims in Milwaukee County last year.

First, the prosecutor recounted the numbing statistics about overdose deaths — a count projected to rise to 380 this year in Milwaukee County alone.

Then Frederick Treu sat at the microphone. "I found my son's body," he said. "It was was really a," and he paused, choking up, "it's ah, something I'll have to live with."

Melynda Treu, fighting through sobs, described how hard it's been to raise her younger brother's 7-year-old son "As much as we love him, we can't fix the hole in his heart," she said.

Mark A. Glisczinski(Photo: Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office)

The defendant, Mark A. Glisczinski, 35, gave the judge his piece.

"No words can describe how bad I feel," he said. "I have no excuses or explanation. I deserve to serve every day this court gives me."

Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Carolina Stark decided that should be 10 years in prison, plus four more on extended supervision.

Glisczinski pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless homicide by delivery of drugs for selling Treu the mixture of heroin and fentanyl on Jan. 24, 2016, that he injected a short time later at his apartment in Cudahy. When his family finally found him there, he'd been dead about four days.

Stark credited Glisczinski — whom police quickly identified by texts in Treu's phone — for confessing immediately and cooperating with police. But she was concerned that, while out on $2,000 bail in Treu's case over the summer, Glisczinski burglarized another acquaintance's home, stealing electronics and three guns he traded to other drug dealers for drugs to feed his own addiction despite having been in treatment for months.

Assistant District Attorney Patricia Daugherty didn't recommend a specific prison term but argued that Glisczinski's crime while on bail for homicide showed just how big a risk he is to public safety as long as he's addicted.

Defense attorney James Rael said his client had no other criminal history, a good work record and started using heroin at a friend's urging in 2015. After that, he said, Glisczinski became dependent on and exploited by a true drug supplier, Dante Patterson, who had instructed him to cheat Treu on the sale of his final buy.

Patterson, 33, was convicted in June of a fatal shooting in May 2016 and sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Rael suggested four years, plus six more on supervision would be sufficient, noting that decades of prosecution for drugs hasn't deterred their spread and abuse.

Stark tended to agree that the chance of prison — or death — won't stop people already selling and using drugs, but said Glisczinski's prison term just might keep someone from getting involved in the first place.

Glisczinski has also pleaded guilty to the burglary and bail jumping and faces up to 15 more years in prison when he is sentenced in that case Monday.