Crusader sentenced to jail
BOISE – A 4th District Court judge ignored a plea bargain and sentenced a former dating-violence crusader to 15 years in jail last week for second-degree kidnapping and methamphetamine delivery.
The woman’s lawyers may also face disciplinary action because they allegedly knew she’d tried to cut a secret deal with another man charged in the case to get lenient treatment, but didn’t report it to the court, the judge said.
Barbara Dehl, 49, of Nampa, previously had reached an agreement to get eight years behind bars, with the possibility of getting out as soon as 2009.
But Judge Joel Horton on Friday said Dehl allegedly pledged to put money in her ex-boyfriend Larry Hanslovan’s account and give him a job after he was released from prison as an incentive for him to plead guilty to related drug and kidnapping charges – in a bid to make it seem like Dehl was less culpable.
“This effort to subvert justice by paying off a co-defendant in an effort to keep him silent certainly speaks volumes about how much you’ve learned about this experience,” Horton said, according to the Idaho Statesman.
Hanslovan, 44, originally pleaded guilty, but later tried unsuccessfully to take back his plea. He was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for selling drugs and for his role in the kidnapping of a pair of teens.
Meanwhile, Horton said Dehl’s attorney, Rolf Kehne, and Hanslovan’s attorney, Larry Dunn, knew about the alleged offer to Hanslovan but failed to report it. Horton plans to refer Kehne to the bar association to face possible disciplinary action, Kehne said.
Kehne denied he was aware of any agreement between Dehl and Hanslovan.
“It just didn’t happen as his honor has found,” Kehne said, declining to provide specifics. He said Dehl made no promises to Hanslovan, and that he concealed nothing from the judge.
In 2000, Dehl led a crusade for Idaho to strengthen domestic-violence laws to include dating relationships after her 17-year-old daughter, Cassandra Dehl, died in a 1999 traffic accident. She died in a car driven by her boyfriend, who was allegedly drunk at the time.
Dehl was arrested March 25, 2005, along with five others police say were involved in a methamphetamine ring. Police found more than four pounds of meth, which they said was valued at $219,000. Police also charged Dehl and Hanslovan with kidnapping two teenagers they believed had stolen money and jewelry from them.
Their suspicions later shifted to another man, 22-year-old John Schmeichel, prosecutors have said. Schmeichel was later shot in the face and killed while driving in a 1986 Toyota 4Runner owned by Dehl. He was buried in a shallow grave near Interstate 84 east of Boise.
Ronald Huntsman has been found guilty of first-degree murder and is scheduled to be sentenced in August.
Authorities said this month that they believe Schmeichel killed his mother, Crystal Ann Nelson, 47, in August 2004 and buried her in a remote region of central Idaho. Her body was found April 29 by two hunters.
In the courtroom Friday, Dehl said getting mixed up in methamphetamine ruined her.
“In a matter of a two-week period, I undid everything good in my life and I feel terrible about that,” she told the judge.
Ada County prosecutors countered that Dehl continues to blame others and has so far refused to take responsibility.
“She persists in an illogical and untrue version of events, and it all has to do with minimizing her involvement,” prosecutor Katy Felix said. “Everyone is to blame but her.”