Woman sentenced in Hamilton County overdose death case

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) — Family members of the victim are reacting after a woman is sentenced in a Hamilton County overdose death case.

“He was our funny guy. He was our loving guy,” said Julia Hillian, Tyler’s mother.

Tyler Hillian passed away in 2017. According to the Medical Examiner’s report, Hillian died from a lethal amount of fentanyl in his system.

On Wednesday, 39-year-old Sabrena Laquatra plead guilty to a lesser second degree murder charge and was sentenced to 15 years in connection to Hillian’s death.

Prosecutors say she is one of the first people to be indicted for this type of crime in the area, because the statute is new.

They hope this sends a message.

“Although you are not intending to kill somebody, if you continue to distribute this type of stuff within our community, within the community at large, within our nation, there are consequences, you can end up killing someone that you don’t know, you could end up killing somebody that you love, a friend, by distributing this stuff that is causing havoc on our community,” said Andrew Coyle, a prosecutor with the Hamilton County District Attorney’s Office.

He also credits investigators, like Detective Steve Bredwell, for their help.

“And I think that law enforcement is taking it seriously. Certainly the agencies within our jurisdiction. They take it very seriously and they have done an excellent job at putting those cases together,” Coyle said.

Tyler’s parents say they had mixed feelings after the guilty plea and sentencing.

“It is hard to describe because nobody wins in this situation. It is somewhat of a relief to us that it is kind of coming to an end as far as we are concerned, but I know she’s got a mother and father,” said Jim Hillian, Tyler’s father.

They don’t want any other families to go through the pain they’ve endured.

“Our hope was that we would be able to help someone else and we do want the community to know that these people are going to pay for this,” Julia Hillian said.

Prosecutors say there are similar cases say there are other similar overdose cases going through the Hamilton County Criminal Court system right now.