Her grandmother was a drug dealer. Her mother was a drug addict, and she never knew her father. Nicole had a child at 18 and had to raise the child alone because the father was convicted of murder. |
It was left to Nicole to raise her sister and her niece, and she didn't know how to do all of those things. |
Nicole grew up in extreme circumstances, but she couldn't get past the legal test for a downward departure. |