Prison ordered Vay meth case

SANDPOINT — A Spirit Lake man was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison for methamphetamine possession.

James Leland Sawley will have to serve at least two years of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He had no comment as the sentence was imposed.

Sawley entered into a binding plea agreement as his re-trial on a meth manufacturing charge loomed.

Sawley, 47, was accused of cooking meth inside a recreational vehicle parked on his family’s property on Edgemere Cutoff Road in October 2008.

Jurors, however, indicated they were hopelessly deadlocked following a four-day trial in 1st District Court last May, prompting Senior District Judge James Michaud to declare a mistrial.

Although Sawley’s fingerprint was found on a household jar incorporated into the lab’s infrastructure, the Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson emphasized at trial that numerous parties had access to uninhabited RV.

Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Shane Greenbank immediately re-filed the charge, which restarted the proceedings against Sawley.

A meth manufacturing conviction can net a defendant a sentence of five years to life in prison. Sawley was also being prosecuted as a habitual offender due to prior meth convictions, which could have a resulted in a life sentence.

Sawley ultimately entered into a plea agreement, the terms of which Michaud agreed to adopt prior to sentencing. In exchange for a plea, the state would reduce the charge and agree not to prosecute Sawley as a habitual offender.

The agreement recommended a fixed sentence of two years with the prospect of three additional years.

Given Sawley’s prior criminal record and the seriousness of the pending charges, Michaud said lifelong or very lengthy prison sentences were real possibilities in the case.

Michaud explained he agreed to bind himself to the agreement because he doubted another trial would produce a different result.

“It’s just simply because I don’t think the state could successfully prosecute the trafficking charge and get a unanimous verdict,” Michaud said.