Allan Houle is taken into custody Dec.11 for transportation to the Los Alamos Detention Center following sentencing in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. Photo by Maire O’Neill/ladailypost.com
Sentencing for Allan Houle under a plea agreement was finally held Jan. 11 before First Judicial District Chief Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer in Santa Fe after two previous postponements due to the judge’s concerns about inconsistencies in plea agreements.
Judge Marlowe Sommer reviewed a plea agreement for Houle Sept. 23, presented by Deputy District Attorney Kent Wahlquist under which Houle would plead guilty to two counts of trafficking of methamphetamine. At that time, Wahlquist argued for four years of incarceration and Judge Marlowe Sommer immediately questioned the distinction between Houle and another defendant convicted just days earlier, Anthony Knief, who also was arrested during the March 2017 Operation Spring Cleaning drug sting in Los Alamos.
Knief was sentenced to nine years of incarceration for each of two trafficking charges but Judge Marlowe Sommer suspended the two sentences, which were to run consecutively and ordered Knief to be on supervised probation for five years. Eighteen other drug-related charges were dismissed as a result of that plea agreement.
Wahlquist told the court at that time that Knief immediately went and started treatment and presented the court with several documents showing the treatment he was undergoing and the steps he took to address his drug problem. Wahlquist also alleged that Houle had discovered who the confidential informant (CI) was in the case and that there was an incident at a local park where Houle had confronted the CI. Wahlquist argued that a four-year sentence in the Department of Corrections for a non-violent felony would mean Houle could, with good time, be out in two years, giving him an opportunity to avail of treatment there.
Judge Marlowe Sommer said what the court is really stuck on is the inconsistency between Houle’s plea and the plea that was given to Knief. She said Knief faced 20 counts of trafficking LSD, cocaine and other drugs and because he did treatment and had no prior convictions and didn’t have an alleged verbal altercation with a CI, he was offered and given a conditional discharge. She said Houle, because he didn’t go to treatment and because he has a domestic violence case and was yelling at a CI, the State was asking for four years in the penitentiary. Saying she could not wrap her head around “the clear divergence before the court”, she was not going to sentence him until after receiving a pre-sentence report from probation. She ordered Houle to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet and told him he could only leave his home for work, support meetings and medical treatment.
Houle returned to court Dec. 20 for sentencing. Under the terms of his plea agreement, he had pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking and five counts of use or possession of drug paraphernalia were to be dismissed. He was facing nine to 18 years in each count with five years of supervised probation and would serve a maximum of four years on each count.
Wahlquist again asked the court to impose the maximum of four years stating that both counts were the result of controlled buys made by the Los Alamos Police Department through a CI who bought methamphetamine and heroin from Houle. At that hearing Wahlquist presented the court with three witness statements in connection with the alleged confrontation of the CI.
Judge Marlowe Sommer said the issue of the confrontation was “pretty important” to her decision on sentencing and demanded that the three witnesses be brought to court for cross examination. Sentencing was again continued.
At the Jan. 11 hearing, none of the three subpoenaed witnesses showed up. Wahlquist explained to the court that one was in custody and refused to be transported, another had child care issues and the third was not served because she did not answer her door.
Wahlquist said that following the Dec. 20 hearing, officers responded to an address and found that Houle had overdosed on some drugs. He said medics brought him back with two doses of Narcan and that the other person who was with him saved him with CPR. Houle told Judge Marlowe Sommer he had taken his prescribed depression and anxiety drugs before and after court and that there were no opiates or narcotics involved. He said he was trying to calm down and that he “kind of fell out”.
Judge Marlowe Sommer went on to spend time comparing and contrasting the details of the Knief case with the Houle case taking into account treatment sought, assessments received, child support payment and prior criminal history.
“The first thing that eludes the court is that they pled to the same exposure of 18 years but that Mr. Knief was given a conditional release plus an agreement that if he violates, he will serve the sentences consecutive to one another,” she said. “What I understand is that what got Mr. Knief this was his accountability.”
Judge Marlowe Sommer said that on reviewing the details of both cases, there were some distinctions but not much of a difference. She said the three witness statements were not even made under oath, that one witness had ignored a court order to appear and another wouldn’t answer the door.
“Not necessarily law-abiding folks,” Judge Marlowe Sommer said, adding that she thought what happened in the confrontation was that the CI and Houle were at the park and that they both had words.
“Notably, Mr. Houle is not without fault there even if I can’t decide how much weight to give them, because your conditions of release said no contact with the victims or witnesses. So, there you go, you were held to a higher standard and you didn’t meet it,” she told Houle. She also noted that the probation assessment “didn’t talk about anything promising”.
“One of the biggest things I find problematic for the court is that you lied straight out to the court. You told me you overdosed on Gabapentin and Methocarbamol because you were all upset about your court date, and then the presenting complaint on Dec. 20 says, ‘Patient states took black heroin today’. That’s a huge thing. Going with the documents, you had your opportunity to come clean,” she said. “This says black heroin. You got up here and told me Gabapentin. Those are problems for the court.”
“You certainly have a problem. You have a drug problem and you have an accountability problem and you have a truth problem. So, where’s the best place for you? I think the best place for you is to stay away from your friends, to get help and not to take on any more bad habits,” Judge Marlowe Sommer continued. “Perhaps had I not got stuck on the fact that someone who took accountability very similar to you got a conditional discharge, I may have considered prison a lot harder for you, if I added up these things singly.
She told Houle that he is very similar to Knief but that he lacks accountability and lacks telling the truth.
“That’s really about it because you both have a drug problem and perhaps he has promise because of his accountability and ability to tell the truth and that’s probably the difference between you two,” she said.
Judge Marlowe Sommer went on to sentence Houle to nine years of incarceration on the first trafficking count with all but two years and the amount of time he had already spent on electronic monitoring suspended and to be served on supervised probation. On the second trafficking count, she sentenced Houle to two years of incarceration plus the pre-sentence confinement he had and the remainder to be spent on supervised probation.
Houle was ordered to spend a year in the Los Alamos County Detention Center and his second year on a GPS bracelet on house arrest.
“Let me remind you that’s a form of incarceration. You may have no friends over, you may not go to work, you may only go to emergency doctors appointments. You are on lock down doing exactly as you would do at the jail at your house,” Judge Marlowe Sommer admonished Houle. “What happens on GPS sentences invariably is they step off the line and they come back before me and end up being sentenced to the remainder. So, it won’t be a (probation violation), it will be did you violate not why. I know by today’s experience you always want to tell me why.”
The two sentences are to be served concurrently. Following his sentencing, Houle was transported to the Los Alamos County Detention Center.
