As the judge handed down his 20-month sentence in Tanya Leffler’s drug-distribution case, he said it was “very difficult” for him to follow the attorneys’ previously agreed-upon recommendation.
“You are so lucky to get this sentence,” Clark County Superior Court Judge Gregory Gonzales told Leffler.
Gonzales ordered that the sentence run concurrent with Leffler’s 93-month vehicular homicide sentence — meaning she did not receive any additional time.
Leffler, formerly of Amboy, was sentenced last month to about a year short of the maximum for driving while high on methamphetamine and crashing into motorcyclist James Luden, killing him, on April 14, 2014. Luden, 54, of Vancouver, was stopped for traffic on Padden Parkway when Leffler’s 2010 Mitsubishi Galant struck him from behind.
Leffler, 35, pleaded guilty in that case and on Thursday pleaded guilty to delivery of methamphetamine in a separate case as part of a joint resolution of both cases.
More than a dozen of Luden’s family and friends attended Leffler’s sentencing on Thursday, hopeful that she would have to serve the sentences consecutively.
Leffler kept her head down and back turned to avoid being captured in photos.
Her defense attorney, Heather Carroll, appeared to shield her as she approached the bench. Carroll asked Gonzales to not listen to input from “spectators” in the courtroom, saying that they had an opportunity to speak at Leffler’s last sentencing. “This is a different case,” she said.
According to a probable cause affidavit, at about 6 p.m. Aug. 25, Clark County sheriff’s detectives were preparing to serve a search warrant at the residence where Leffler was living, 13 S.W. 10th St. in Battle Ground, when they saw her give drugs to a man in her front yard.
Leffler had been out on bail in the vehicular homicide case at the time.
Officers contacted the pair and detained them. Upon searching the two, detectives said they found what appeared to be a plastic bag containing methamphetamine in the man’s shorts pocket, the affidavit said.
The man told detectives he purchased the drug from Leffler. The substance in his pocket field-tested positive for meth, according to court documents. Leffler told detectives she gave him the meth, court records show, but said she didn’t accept payment for it.
Officers subsequently searched her residence and found 64 marijuana plants. The residence is not a registered medical marijuana grow, the affidavit said.
They additionally seized about 7 grams of suspected methamphetamine, a digital scale and packaging materials from Leffler’s bedroom. Officers also found a notebook with names and dollar amounts next to them, court documents said.
Leffler initially also faced charges of manufacturing marijuana and possession of methamphetamine with the intent to deliver, but those charges were dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Gonzales asked Carroll and Leffler why he shouldn’t run her sentences consecutively.
Carroll said part of Leffler’s decision in taking the plea deal was to avoid putting Leffler and the victim’s families through a trial.
Gonzales interrupted Carroll and said he doesn’t believe Luden’s family had a problem going to trial and that he had heard the family strongly felt Leffler would have been found guilty.
Carroll said the only reason Leffler took the plea deal was because of the drug-distribution case and said she thinks it’s a fair resolution.
“Oh, it’s not fair, and you know as well as I do that it’s not fair,” Gonzales told Carroll.
Carroll then requested that the prosecutor who negotiated the plea deal come before the court to explain why the sentences are to run concurrent.
Gonzales denied the request. “Ms. Carroll senses that I’m displeased with the offer,” he said.
Leffler asked Gonzales to give her a chance “to rebuild her life.”
Gonzales said the fact Leffler was out on bail, after killing someone, and selling methamphetamine and allegedly selling marijuana is “beyond common sense.”
“Those were not bad choices ma’am, those weren’t even close to bad choices,” he said, adding that she was out running “amok.”
Leffler was picked up on a warrant when she failed to show up for court in October. Members of the U.S. Marshals Service took her into custody Oct. 27 near Salem, Ore. She had been out on bail for a third time but continued to violate the conditions of her release, including testing positive for methamphetamine use.
“Do you even understand the consequences of everything you’ve done?” Gonzales asked.
He said Leffler’s sentences should not run concurrent but said he felt like he needed to follow the recommendation.
“You better turn your life around,” Gonzales told her.
