A longtime addict will spend five decades in the Arizona Department of Corrections for dealing drugs in Lake Havasu City. Andrea Lashway, 43, was given a 51.5-year prison term by Judge Billy Sipe during a May 9 sentencing hearing at the Mohave County Courthouse in Kingman.
Lashway skipped out in the middle of her trial in May, 2016 during which the jury convicted her of five sales of dangerous drug counts, three dangerous drug possession charges and a single count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Defense attorney Sandra Carr said Lashway, at that time, had been dealing with problems associated with her drug addiction, relationship challenges and the suicide of her father who died in her arms.
“This traumatic event sent me on a downward spiral,” Lashway told Judge Sipe. “I’m so sorry for what I’ve done and regret the day I chose to use drugs.”
A throng of Lashway’s family and friends attending the hearing heard Judge Sipe and prosecutor Greg McPhillips express empathy, but they both noted that many people deal with death without turning to drugs and breaking the law. And both said that Lashway was dealing for profit and not for simple personal use.
The dangerous drug sale convictions involved an informant’s purchase of methamphetamine from Lashway in increments of 9.8, 6.8, 13.5, 5.9 and 3.8 ounces in May and April, 2015.
“She is moving ounces of methamphetamine in our community,” McPhillips said. “The defendant’s not taking responsibility for any of her conduct and she will never conform her conduct to what the people of Arizona expect it to be.”
The severity of Lashway’s punishment was ramped up by her previous felony conviction and the jury finding that the sales convictions were motivated by pecuniary gain. The drug possession convictions involved methamphetamine and prescription pills.
Lashway was on the lam for more than two years before she was arrested last September. She still faces a failure to appear charge for absconding during her trial.
