A 42-year-old Batavia woman told Presiding County Court Judge Michael F. Pietruska that she's willing to risk the possibility of a 24-year prison term in exchange for one more shot at drug rehab.
Laura Fletcher, a mother of four with three still of school age, will need to stay on the straight and narrow for two years to avoid prison if she pleads guilty April 18 to a four-count grand jury indictment for allegedly dealing drugs.
She has two prior drug-dealing convictions.
"Looking at her history, that is quite a risk," Pietruska said.
Those two prior convictions are the reason, said ADA Will Zickl, that Fletcher shouldn't get another shot at drug treatment.
"There is a demonstratable objective history in this case that I think makes it a very poor argument to be made that she should be given a chance in this program," Zickl said.
In the indictment issued in November, Fletcher is accused of selling cocaine in May and June to agents of the Local Drug Task Force. She is charged with four Class B felonies, two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance, 3rd, and two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, 3rd.
She's been approved for the program by a panel in Erie County, along with a recommendation from a local counselor.
Her attorney Lisa Kroemer argued that Fletcher is willing to assume a substantial risk, given her track record, that she's fully aware of the consequences of failure, and that she desperately wants to succeed in the program.
Fletcher could potential get a lighter prison term in a plea deal, instead of pleading guilty to all four counts of the indictment.
She tearfully told Pietruska she understood the risk, but was willing to take the chance for a new chance at a clean life.
Kroemer said Fletcher has had periods between arrests where she was able to maintain sobriety before succumbing to her addiction again.
The prior drug sales convictions were "simply to support her own addiction," Kroemer said. "It was not part of any profit-making scheme."
