Chad Sprenger (Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections)
WAUPACA COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A Clintonville man convicted of causing the death of his nine-month-old daughter will not get a new trial based on an argument the medication he was taking could cause violent behavior.
Chad Sprenger, now, 48, was convicted of first-degree reckless homicide and substantial battery for the March 26, 2002, death of his daughter, Alexis. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
In his appeal, Sprenger said he was taking a prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) medication for depression when he abused Alexis, eventually fracturing her skull and causing her death.
In 2023, he argued that new studies showing that the use of SSRIs can cause violent behavior in some people is a new factor that warrants sentence modification. The circuit denied the motion, and Sprenger appealed.
In a seven-page decision issued Thursday, the appeals court also rejected that argument.
Even if any or each incident of Sprenger’s violence against A.B. was brought about because of Sprenger’s prescribed Zoloft, that new information does not explain why Sprenger lied, shifted blame, and tried to protect himself instead of taking any action to protect A.B. during the seven-month period in which he inflicted violence and injuries on A.B. It is evident from the circuit court’s sentencing remarks that the seven-month period during which Sprenger had the opportunity to—but did not—get help for himself or take other actions to protect his daughter was the driving force behind the sentence imposed. In this particular case, information related to a potential reason for Sprenger’s violence—but not for the months of lies and blame-shifting and failure to act to protect his daughter from his recurrent violent conduct that ultimately led to A.B.’s death, which were the circumstances that the court explicitly and repeatedly cited as the reason for the sentence imposed—is therefore not a new factor as a matter of law,” the decision states.
Sprenger is currently at the Fox Lake Correctional Institution, state records show.
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