Would-be robber gets prison for driving drunk

Johna Criner avoided incarceration after crashing a getaway car with two small children in the rear seat after a botched armed robbery in 2005.

The system was less lenient the second time around.

Criner, 35, was ordered to serve 10 years in prison Thursday for drinking and driving, a violation of the terms of her probation.

She won't be eligible for parole until completing prison chemical-dependency and mental-health programs, Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus ruled.

Criner admitted during an October hearing to driving or attempting to drive while intoxicated on at least two occasions.

Defense attorneys sought Thursday to have Criner's probation re-imposed.

"I've made some poor decisions, and I'm very sorry for that," Criner testified, adding that she didn't realize the full consequences of violating her probation and that she wouldn't violate it again if given a second chance.

Prosecutors, however, pointed to the seriousness of the underlying offense and gravity of the probation violations.

Criner was given a 10-year suspended prison sentence and put on probation after participating in an attempted armed robbery at an Evergreen convenience store.

She pleaded guilty to one count of criminal endangerment in exchange for prosecutors dropping an accountability to armed robbery charge.

In March 2005, Richard Avila, then of Kalispell, walked into the Evergreen Gas and Deli and put a single can of beer on the counter, investigators said at the time. When the clerk told him the price, Avila demanded he empty the till.

The clerk refused, so Avila pulled a gun out of his waistband and pulled back the slide.

The gun jammed.

An amused customer in the store told Avila, "If you're going to rob a store, you might get a gun that works," according to investigators.

Avila left the store and got into a 1980 black BMW two-door car. Criner was in the driver's seat and two children were in the back seat, witnesses told police.

Flathead County sheriff's deputies responding to the robbery call also heard about a car crash a few blocks away.

They found a black BMW that had hit a tree on Sleepy Hollow Drive. Criner was driving and two young children were in the back seat, but she insisted there was no one with them.

Soon, a man walked up to the crash and told officers he had to talk to the woman. About that time, a witness from the store drove up and identified Avila.

Avila was arrested in connection with armed robbery and endangering the welfare of the two children. He later pleaded guilty to one count of robbery and was sentenced in July 2005 to 20 years in prison with 10 years suspended.

A 9-mm high-powered gun later was found at the home where the car crashed. The weapon was still jammed.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com