Abraham gets 2- to 7-year prison term for death of teen

Jerry Wylie feels relief now that Nicole Abraham is going to prison for the death of his son, Jimmy Wylie, but believes she should have received more time behind bars.

“I think she should have gotten the whole seven years at least,” Wylie told The Herald after Tuesday’s sentencing. “She killed my son. He wasn’t even on drugs until he met her.”

Abraham was sentenced to two to seven years in prison with a retained jurisdiction after pleading guilty to giving the 16-year-old the ecstasy, oxycontin and methadone that led to his December 2006 death from an overdose.

Retained jurisdiction means Abraham will have an opportunity to come before the court after six months to have her progress evaluated. The court will then determine if the rest of Abraham’s sentence should be completed, or if she has learned her lesson and can have her sentence reduced.

District Judge John Luster reminded Abraham that she has the opportunity to change her life while Jimmy does not. She was expected to go to a six-month rehabilitation treatment center in Seattle, but Luster thought prison time would be more beneficial.

“You are the drug queen of Bonners Ferry, as much as I can see here,” Luster told Abraham.

Abraham’s attorney, Rex Finney, told the court she has “a serious addiction problem.”

“A lot of people would do things differently if they could,” said Finney. “Jimmy was someone who was cared about by my client and suffered from the same problems that she did.”

“I do want to get clean and I know I need to change,” Abraham told the judge. “I’m sorry to the family, I’m sorry to the community and I’m sorry to myself.”

But the Wylies don’t believe Abraham is sorry.

“When she saw us in the courtroom she was smirking at us,” said Jimmy Wylie’s stepmother, Jill. “If she was sorry, she would have cried when she looked at us. She doesn’t show any remorse.”

“It made me feel better that she isn’t going to get off,” she continued. “I wish it could have been for a lot longer. I think she will get out of jail and do it all over again, and when she does, I hope to be standing right there. I will fight it to the very end to make sure she won’t do this again. I don’t think it is right to take away someone’s life and that she can enjoy hers.”

Abraham also pled guilty to another one of the eight felony charges against her in connection with Wylie’s death and separate unrelated drug arrests from Sept. 12, 2006, and Feb. 2, 2008.

“We are thankful to that judge,” said Jill. “I felt he was feeling our pain that we have lost a son and that she wasn’t taking it seriously. She has been getting away with stuff for way too long.”

“It means a lot to us that the community is thinking not only about us but their own kids,” she continued. “It could have been any one of the kids but it was ours.”