Lincoln County mother whose drinking caused baby’s death is sent to prison
A prescription drug problem led a Lincoln County woman back to prison today, more than three years after drinking caused her baby’s death.
Sherri J. Lohnstein
Sherri J. Lohnstein, 36, of Foley, pleaded guilty in December 2007 of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her daughter, Zreanna. She completed treatment program in prison and was released in May of 2008. She was ordered to complete a drug court program during the five years of probation she received as part of a plea agreement.
That’s where Lohnstein’s recovery fell apart, prosecutors said. Karla Duryea, a state Division of Probation and Parole worker, said Lohnstein developed a problem with prescription drugs. She testified that Lohnstein went to the emergency room several times to get prescriptions for painkillers. She said Lohnstein also used old prescriptions to try to get the drugs.
After several warnings, Lohnstein was removed from a special Lincoln County court for offenders with drug problems and mental health problems, Duryea said.
St. Charles County Public Defender Richard Scheibe said Lohnstein obtained prescriptions from doctors who were qualified to determine whether she needed the medication. There was no evidence that she had been using alcohol, the substance that led to her conviction on the manslaughter charge, he said.
Lohnstein was drunk on Sept. 9, 2006 when doctors at a Lake Saint Louis hospital performed an emergency Caesarean section. Her blood-alcohol level was 0.18 percent. Baby Zreanna’s was 0.17 percent. Medical examiners said Lohnstein’s drinking caused Zreanna’s death.
Lohnstein was pregnant again by the time she entered the prison treatment program. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl who was adopted by another family.
During today’s hearing, Scheibe asked Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider to continue Lohnstein on probation. Assistant prosecutor Carrie Barth said the court had no real choice other than incarceration. The courts had given Lohnstein every opportunity to complete treatment, she said.
Circuit Judge Nancy Schneider ordered Lohnstein to serve the seven-year sentence that was suspended at her plea hearing. The sentence is the maximum allowed by statute.
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She should have been behind bars a long time ago and never allowed to have had another child. I am happy that someone adopted that baby but that does not guarantee her a life free of lasting effects of her mother’s past. It time we stop giving second chances to people who murder babies. Have we learned out lesson yet?????
A pharmacist 70 years of age pleaded innocent to charges of stealing prescription painkillers and trading them for sexual favors. Police said they began investigating P. Lussier after receiving tips that he was trading Vicodin, an addictive pain reliever, to a woman in her 30s in exchange for sex. Detective Sgt. S. H. said Lussier was carrying 100 pills when they arrested him as he left work at a Brooks Pharmacy in Palmer, Massachusetts on Wednesday evening.Lussier was arraigned Thursday on charges including drug trafficking and larceny of a controlled substance. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail. Police said they found thousands of prescription pills, including Oxycontin, Oxycodone and Viagra, when they searched Lussier’s home on Wednesday. They also found two .38-caliber handguns, Haley said.Lussier’s lawyer, Brian L. Blackburn, said his client has not been charged with any offenses in 21 years. In 1984, Lussier, then the owner of a Springfield pharmacy, received two years’ probation after pleading guilty to two counts of illegally dispensing the painkiller Percodan. In 1977, he was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling thousands of dollars’ worth of stimulants and depressants to undercover narcotics agents, this indicates in his article on findrxonline addiction of vicodin.
I am not sure what your article has to do with this other than suspecting this is how she obtained her drugs. She actually went from ER to ER with various complaints as well as asking a doctor for medicine too. At least now she is where she needs to be unless some bleeding heart lets her out to have another chance, which she will ultimately screw up.