LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Lake County Superior Court judge on Tuesday threw out a plea agreement a Lakeport woman had reached with the District Attorney’s Office in a human trafficking case and set a preliminary hearing date for this spring.
Judge J. David Markham rejected the plea agreement in which 28-year-old Krystina Marie Pickersgill had entered a guilty plea in the fall and refused to sentence her, saying it was too lenient and could set a precedent going forward.
Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch, who appeared on behalf of the prosecution, said the agreement had been worked out with former District Attorney Don Anderson, who left office last month after two terms, and Pickersgill’s defense attorney, George Boisseau of Santa Rosa.
Boisseau did not return a call from Lake County News seeking comment.
Pickersgill and her husband, Sam Massette, 37, were arrested in June after a two-month-long investigation by the District Attorney’s Office revealed that the couple had been selling local girls into prostitution in the Bay Area, as Lake County News has reported.
In October, Pickersgill pleaded guilty to one count of human trafficking after reaching the agreement with Anderson, who personally prosecuted the case.
The agreement called for Pickersgill to receive three years of probation, credit for the four months previously served and strict mental health treatment. If she failed to complete the probation terms, she faced up to 12 years in prison.
When the agreement was announced in October, Anderson – at that time in the midst of an unsuccessful bid for a Lake County Superior Court judge’s seat – faced heavy criticism from community members who felt the deal was too lenient.
Anderson said he pursued the settlement because Pickersgill was on medication for mental health issues at the time she met Massette, and that he believed Massette had taken her off of her medication then coerced her into prostituting for him. He said initially Pickersgill was a victim of human trafficking herself before she became a willing participant.
Authorities said the couple recruited high school girls and then took them to the Bay Area, where they were coerced and threatened to perform acts of prostitution.
“The situation was as egregious as they come,” said Flesch. However, he said Pickersgill’s culpability was in question.
Massette reached a plea agreement later in the fall with Anderson and in December was sentenced to the upper term of 20 years for two counts of human trafficking for the purposes of prostitution and two counts of pimping women in prostitution, and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
With credits and time served, Massette is expected to serve about nine years in prison, which caused some of his victims to write the court to ask that plea deal be rejected.
Judge Michael Lunas, however, went forward with Massette’s sentencing. He acknowledged the serious nature of the case and pointed to what appeared to be Massette’s refusal to take responsibility in a letter to the court. However, he didn’t wish to second-guess the District Attorney’s Office or start the proceedings over again.
On Tuesday, Judge Markham took the opposite approach when he refused to accept the plea. He said that, if this case didn’t deserve prison he didn’t know what did. He also pointed out that there were multiple young victims whose lives will never be the same.
“The court was adamant that they were not going to accept the plea,” Flesch said.
Flesch said he was not challenging the court’s ruling. “On its face, I understand completely what the court had to say, however, I’m not clear as to whether the court was aware of the extenuating circumstances beyond what was stated in the probation report.”
The mitigating factors included in the report included Pickersgill’s lack of a prior record and the fact that she may have been suffering from a mental condition which significantly reduced culpability.
Regarding that second factor, Flesch said Boisseau, Pickersgill’s attorney, also argued that point, with Judge Markham countering that Pickersgill had set up dates for the trafficked girls. The defense, in turn, argued that Pickersgill only did that because Massette had power over her.
Boisseau argued that Pickersgill – who wept during the court proceeding – is a different person and now wants to attend school.
Markham also raised concern about future precedent, specifically, anyone who is eligible for probation like Pickersgill automatically getting it rather than having to serve time behind bars, Flesch said.
As a result of the plea agreement being rejected, Pickersgill exercised her right to withdraw her October guilty plea, Flesch said.
Flesch said the case now essentially starts all over, and reverts to the charges contained in a first amended complaint filed in June, which included human trafficking, pimping and pandering, procuring for prostitution, and conspiring for the purposes of human trafficking, pimping and prostitution.
Conviction on all of those charges carries a prison sentence in excess of 40 years, Flesch said.
Judge Markham set Pickersgill’s preliminary hearing for March 27.
Flesch said he is not yet sure if he will be assigned to continue to cover the case.
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Judge rejects Lakeport woman’s plea deal in human trafficking case; preliminary hearing set
- Elizabeth Larson
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