Woman sentenced for threatening cop

By The Associated Press
ANACONDA - An Oregon woman who threatened a Montana Highway Patrol trooper with a gun during a traffic stop has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Kellee E. Gerard, 26, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for felony assault on a peace officer, five years for possessing methamphetamine and six months in jail for misdemeanor obstructing a peace officer. The felony sentences are consecutive.

"The court has to take any situation like this very seriously," District Judge Ray Dayton said during sentencing. "It did place (the officer) in mortal danger."

Gerard and Hugo Briseno were arrested March 2, after Trooper Michael Feldman stopped Briseno for reckless driving on Interstate 90 near Warm Springs.
During the stop, both Briseno and Gerard, his passenger, threatened Feldman with a 9 mm handgun. Investigators later found methamphetamine in the car.

Briseno, an illegal alien, was sentenced to five years in prison for assault on a peace officer; he'll also face federal immigration and weapons charges upon release.

Prosecutors recommended a maximum sentence for Gerard because of her criminal background, which includes a conviction from a crash that killed two people, Anconda-Deer Lodge County Attorney Joan Borneman said.

"She has been convicted of manslaughter, criminal negligent homicide, several assaults, several possession-of-controlled-substances charges," she said.

Gerard's attorney said the maximum sentence was unfair and that his client had been addicted to methamphetamine since she was 15. "She lost her husband in a car accident when she was pregnant with their son. All of her offenses were the result of methamphetamine," attorney Chris Miller said.

Dayton replied: "It doesn't seem to be arguable that her pattern involves several years of serious irresponsibility that has been a danger to the public," he said.

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