09/25/2025
Absolutely unacceptable! My heart is breaking for this family đź’”
Hunter Wheeler, my dear friend and also a Board Member for the project lost his son, Spencer in Sept of 2022 at the age of 16. We met shortly after and joined forces. After a long 3 years, their day in court was held, yesterday, Sept 23rd. Below is a post I copied and pasted from Spencer's mom, Lisa Wheeler.
Sentencing Hearing Details, Judge Karen Sage, 299 district court, Travis County
Charge: Delivery of a controlled substance to a child causing death or serious bodily injury
Yesterday we had the sentencing hearing for Alexander Sonnier, the man who sold Spencer the fake percs resulting in his death on September 15, 2022. The DEA showed up at my house that morning and I immediately turned over Spencer's computer and phone to them. The DEA concocted a sting operation where they acted like they were Spencer buying again and Alexander was arrested at my condo complex a mere 7 days later. He had 136 fentanyl pills (they tested having 2.2mg's of fentanyl per pill) and a bag of co***ne in his car. We will forever be indebted to the agents working our case.
Alexander Sonnier, age 25 at the time of his arrest, was a full time drug dealer. He was a convicted felon with a significant criminal history going back to 2016. He could not vote nor own a gun. On September 14th, the day he sold Spencer the pills, he was on probation and failed a urine test (co***ne and w**d) right after selling to Spencer. There was no arrest or intervention that day from the failed urine test. He also did not take money from Spencer for the pills, as Spencer did not have access to any cash. Instead Spencer traded an Oculus gaming system for the pills.
Since his arrest on September 22nd 2022, we have been working with the DA on this case. The defense first came to us with a plea deal of 10 years in jail. We came back to them with 15 years in jail. They came back to us with 10 years jail, 10 years probation. We did not accept. He then plead guilty and a sentencing hearing was scheduled for September 23rd 2025 where the evidence would be presented before the judge and he would receive the sentencing that afternoon. With his plea deal his sentencing was limited to 2-20 years for this charge.
We were told by the DA's office that it would be highly unusual for the judge to undercut what had already been offered in the pleas (between 10-15 years) and that with the undeniable facts of our case, we could expect to land between 15-20 years for his sentencing.
Travis County DA, did an exceptional job trying this case. They clearly connected Alexander selling pills to Spencer (twice - including the sting operation), proved he knew he was selling pills with fentanyl, revealed his gun sales, and even connected him to another fentanyl death that occurred two months before Spencer's death (evidence showed that he had no remorse for the death). None of this Alexander denied or objected to. Alexander also had an opportunity to go through an extensive 9 month drug treatment plan as part of his probation years ago on another charge, which he did not choose to do. Another notable fact was that Alexander had multiple reports of bad behavior (including violence) in jail while awaiting the sentencing and in his previous jail time before this arrest. There was also the autopsy report showing that Spencer had 3 types of fentanyl in his body, causing his death.
In the end, judge Karen Sage, to the shock of the entire courtroom, sentenced him to 10 years of probation and no jail time, claiming that jail time would not heal us nor Alexander and that she wanted to give him another chance. She also stated she didn't want to make a "statement" about this case since the fentanyl problem was much bigger than this one dealer.
The statement she made, so brutally, is that fentanyl dealers, and I mean the ones who know they are dealing fentanyl and not just friends sharing drugs, are not dangerous enough to the community to incarcerate. And that the victim's lives do not matter.
Those dealing fentanyl, resulting in 2 deaths, will only get probation in her courtroom. Clearly, our judge prioritized rescuing Alexander over justice for Spencer.
This sentencing was a crushing blow to all of us and a disgrace to the Travis County Judicial System. We really felt he was going to get a max sentence with all the evidence.
We are extremely grateful to our incredible attorneys, the DEA agents and all who have showed up in support. -- Lisa Wheeler
This is Alexander Sonnier's mug shot.
