Trial begins in Wheaton drug-induced homicide case
Augustina Taylor had just more than 24 hours to celebrate her newfound freedom from prison on June 26, 2012, before she again succumbed to her drug addiction demons, authorities say.
Prosecutors say it was Taylor's first "fix" of heroin and cocaine since her release from a year in prison that killed the 32-year-old Wheaton woman. And now the friend they say brought it to her, 34-year-old Jennifer Nere of Summit, is charged with Taylor's murder.
Assistant State's Attorney Jae Kwon said Thursday that Taylor was celebrating with family and friends at her mom's three-bedroom Wheaton apartment and adjoining pool into the night of June 27, 2012.
When one of Taylor's friends needed a ride home later in evening, Taylor called Nere to pick up the friend and bring her the drugs that led to her death.
"Tina was a drug addict, and she needed her fix," Kwon said. "She needed her fix of heroin and crack cocaine."
When Nere arrived, Kwon said, she handed Taylor a bloody gray sock. Inside the sock, he said, were two bundles of heroin, a crack pipe, a syringe and a small bag.
After receiving the drugs, Kwon said, Taylor rushed back up to the apartment and headed straight to the washroom and turned on the shower.
Family and friends later realized Taylor had been in the washroom for a long time and wasn't responding when they called for her.
Wheaton police officer Jim Craig testified Thursday that he forced the washroom door open with his shoulder and found Taylor unresponsive. She was later pronounced dead.
"Tina got drugs from the defendant," Kwon said. "She took those drugs and died as a result of it."
Defense attorney David Gaughan, however, denied that Nere, who also suffers from drug addiction, is responsible for Taylor's death.
Gaughan said Nere, Taylor and the third woman were friends who would "do anything possible to get their fix," including prostitution.
"I am totally confident that, at the close of this case, the state will not have proved without a reasonable doubt that my client is responsible for (Taylor's) death," Gaughan said. "This is a case of an all too common hell for too many families."
Nere was taken into custody in DuPage County in September 2013 after being released from Cook County jail, where she had been held since Aug. 24, 2013, on unrelated charges.
If convicted, Nere faces between six and 30 years in prison. She has been in DuPage County jail since her arrest on $300,000 bail.
The case against Nere is only the second drug-induced homicide case to be heard in DuPage County since the state legislature approved drug-induced homicide laws in 2011.
In May, DuPage County Judge Blanche Hill Fawell sentenced 26-year-old Malcolm Brown of Chicago to 10 years in prison for selling heroin to a Carol Stream man who then shared it with a friend who overdosed and died. Brown has since appealed the sentence, and Fawell has denied his request to reconsider the prison term.