Family unhappy with disparity in plea deals

The family of a 19-year-old woman sent to prison Thursday for tampering with evidence in a Kalispell murder case is criticizing the sentence because of an earlier plea agreement reached by another defendant.

Joshua Fritz, 21, signed a plea bargain in October and later received a five-year suspended sentence that resulted in probation but no prison time. He pleaded no contest to felony tampering with evidence in exchange for the dismissal of charges of burglary, theft and obstructing a peace officer.

In her own plea agreement, Karrolyn Robinson pleaded guilty to theft and tampering with physical evidence. Robinson was sentenced Thursday to eight years in Montana Women’s Prison.

“It’s just not right,” said Anna Johnson, Robinson’s mother. “It’s supposed to be justice for all, not justice for some.”

Johnson said the family is outraged by the disparity between the sentences, both of which were delivered by District Judge Stewart Stadler based on plea bargains offered by the Flathead County Attorney’s Office.

The lead prosecutor in the case, Deputy County Attorney Alison Howard, said the difference in outcomes is based on the severity of the crimes and the timing of the offenses.

Fritz was the fifth person charged in connection with the death of Wesley Collins, who was found dead in a wooded area after Robert Lake and Jeffrey Nixon allegedly bludgeoned him to death with hammers and stole his medical marijuana and money.

Fritz was implicated when Kalispell Police Department officers responded to a burglary at Collins’ residence April 17 prior to learning he had been murdered.

According to court documents, Lake and Fritz jumped out of a window of the apartment and fled on foot, but both were taken into custody and questioned.

Robinson later told investigators that Lake and Fritz had gone to the residence to steal Collins’ marijuana plants, weight equipment and other items days after the murder.

After examining text messages between Fritz and Robinson, investigators learned that Fritz had disposed of Collins’ phone while fleeing the residence on April 17. That led to the tampering-with-evidence charge.

Howard said the charges are similar, but the plea bargains offered were different because there was no indication that Fritz was aware of the murder.

Robinson, she said, knew the crime was being committed and took action to cover up the murder by deleting text messages from Lake’s phone and her own before turning them over to law enforcement.

“She walked a fine line between being an accomplice in that homicide,” Howard said.

But Johnson said the crimes were similar and should have been treated as such. She also said Robinson was not Lake’s common-law wife, a detail listed in numerous court documents.

Howard said that Robinson and Lake initially had claimed to be in a common-law marriage, leading to the incorrect conclusion in court records when charges first were filed.

Three men have yet to be tried in the case.

Lake, Nixon and Cody Naldrett — who allegedly helped remove Collins’ body from his apartment and hide it in the woods — all are scheduled to go to trial in March.

Reporter Eric Schwartz may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at eschwartz@dailyinterlake.com