Man who killed teacher back in jail on drug charges
A man out on parole after serving part of a 10-year sentence for driving drunk and killing a beloved Somers teacher in a 2006 crash is back in jail, this time on drug charges.
Jason DeShazer, 32, had an initial appearance Monday before Lake County Justice of the Peace Randal Owens.
DeShazer was charged with misdemeanor possession of dangerous drugs, felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
He remained in Lake County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. He will have to post $10,000 bond and wear a drug monitoring patch to be released.
DeShazer’s arrest marks a new chapter in the life of a man who, after his early release from prison, toured Flathead Valley schools two years ago to tell youths about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.
DeShazer, convicted of negligent homicide, had been released from prison after 3 1/2 years at the request of the family of Dawn Bowker.
Bowker, 27, was killed on Oct. 26, 2006, when DeShazer blacked out after a night of drinking, smoking pot and using cocaine, crossed the center line on Montana 82 and hit the popular Somers Middle School teacher head-on as she was driving to school.
“The price of freedom is responsibility,” DeShazer told Bigfork High School students in 2013. In the presentation he painted students a picture of his life, which included being born to a substance-addicted teen mother who eventually ceded custody to his Bigfork grandparents.
DeShazer said a lack of self-esteem drove him to occasionally start abusing drugs and alcohol before it eventually grew into a larger problem that ultimately led to Bowker’s death.
“For every choice there’s a consequence,” DeShazer told the students two years ago. “I stole the opportunity for Dawn Bowker to make another choice. I violently robbed her of the ability to get married and have children. I stole it with a selfish choice of my own.
“Dawn’s death was completely preventable. Dawn is forever 27 because I made a choice to drive intoxicated.”
Lake County Deputy Attorney James Lapotka said he had not been able to review the documents filed against DeShazer as of Tuesday afternoon, but DeShazer is being held for the Montana Department of Corrections on the grounds that he violated conditions of his parole, which lasts until 2027.
Lapotka said if his office pursues the felony charges instead of letting DeShazer be handled through the parole system, it is likely DeShazer might qualify as a persistent felony offender, which would allow prosecutors to seek an enhanced sentence.
In addition to requiring DeShazer to serve the remainder of his 10-year prison sentence behind bars, a judge could also determine DeShazer will have to serve an additional 10-year sentence that was suspended in the negligent homicide case.
Reporter Megan Strickland may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.