By Meladi Brewer

DailyAdvocate.com

GREENVILLE — Ashlee Fletcher’s attorney advised the court following her sentence, he will be filing for appeal. Judge Travis L. Fliehman presided.

Fletcher, 38, of Greenville, appeared for sentencing on three cases Friday: case one was attempting to have weapons while under disability, a felony of the fourth degree; case two was tampering of evidence, a felony of the third degree, and abuse of a corpse, a felony of the fifth degree; and case three included endangering children, a felony of the third degree, and involuntary manslaughter, a felony of the first degree.

The victim’s dad in the involuntary manslaughter case was able to address Fletcher and speak on the victim’s behalf. He said there was a lot of things he wanted to say to her, but he is pretty sure she already knows what he is going to say because she knows him better than everybody.

“I hope you got everything you’ve wanted,” the victim’s dad said. “The whole time I’ve known you, you have always talked about your happiness, and what you needed.”

He said he hoped that what this caused everyone to lose gave her everything she needed.

“The way I see it, you have a roof over your head, you’ve got three meals, and you are very, very lucky. You have a good rest of your life,” the victim’s dad said.

State Prosecutor Deborah Quigley said the defendant’s behavior was outrageous and stemmed from her drug abuse and relationship with her ‘drug dealing boyfriend.”

“This behavior cannot be allowed to be seen as anything but outrageous, and it is not something the community should not stand for,” Quigley said.

In the child endangering and involuntary manslaughter case, the victim suffered serious physical harm leading to the victim passing away.

“Fletcher was the victim’s mother. She’s the person who, in this life, should have protected him more than anyone else, and she chose not to,” Quigley said.

In regards to the gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence case, Fletcher was under release for a drug offense when she committed the act. Quigley also advised the court that Fletcher fled the jurisdiction when law enforcement began closing in. There had been a pattern of drug abuse related to the offense.

“The state believes the defendant has no genuine remorse for either of the victims in any of the cases: Corey Flemming nor her son,” Quigley said.

Fletcher did not have any criminal history until January 2022 where she was in trouble for drug abuse. From there “it was a free fall down” into a criminal life. Quigley said she believed the drug usage had an impact on her ability to mother the victim.

“She was choosing to use drugs rather than care for her own child,” Quigley said.

It was the state’s belief that Fletcher committed the worst form of the offense and justifies a maximum sentence. The state recommended the court impose the maximum three year prison for tampering with evidence to run consecutively with the 11 years up to 16 and a half year prison term for child endangering and involuntary manslaughter.

Defense Attorney David Rohrer advised the court he will agree with the prosecutor that up until all these charges, Fletcher was not involved in the criminal justice system.

“There is no doubt that she spiraled when she got involved with drugs, got involved with meth, and got involved with Dean Baker. There is no doubt about that,” Rohrer said.

He said these are no excuses, but they are fact. His fear that what the court is trying to do is over penalize someone for taking a case to trial.

“Fletcher pleas to two of her cases and took two to trial,” Rohrer said. “One thing I don’t understand is we had a lot of medical testimony who said the mom took care of him. Basically things were going pretty well until Fletcher spun out of control.”

He said she has been cooperative, and it is a shame everyone is sitting in court today minus a 14-year old boy.

“There is just no excuse for that, and I understand that,” Rohrer said.

He advised the court he will be filing a notice of appeal for the involuntary manslaughter/child endangerment and the tampering with evidence/abuse of a corpse cases which Fletcher has the right to file within a 30 day window post sentencing.

“I will not be handling the appeal, but we will appropriately file a timely notice of appeal,” Rohrer said.

Fletcher addressed the court following the attorneys’ recommendations. She stated she never left her son alone, nor did she not love him.

“I rather him be here than me right now,” Fletcher said. “I never wanted anything to happen to him, ever. I love him, and I would never take him away from anybody.”

She said she did not do anything stated in the abuse of a corps and tampering with evidence case, and she never left her children alone.

“I was there with my son. I stayed up with him until 3 a.m.,” Fletcher said.

She said she was sorry to anybody who had been hurt by all this.

“I really am sorry,” Fletcher said.

She finished by addressing the victim’s dad saying whether he believes her or not, she “did not want anything to happen” to their son and she was sorry.

Judge Fliehman sentenced Fletcher to a minimum of eight years up to 12 years in prison with a mandatory supervision of five years of post release supervision for involuntary manslaughter, felony of the first degree to be served concurrently to her 36 month in prison with two year post release control (PRC) sentence for endangering children, a felony of the third degree. Fletcher was granted a 33 day credit on this case.

This sentence is to run consecutively with a sentence of 24 months in prison with two years PRC for tampering with evidence, a felony of the third degree and concurrent 12 months in jail for abuse of a corpse, a felony of the fifth degree. She has a 147 day jail time credit on this case.

For attempting to have weapons under disability, a felony of the fourth degree, she was issued 78 days in the Darke County Criminal Justice Center with credit for 78 days of time served.

“The court imposes consecutive sentences in regards to the tampering with evidence/abuse of a corpse case and the involuntary manslaughter/child endangerment case,” Judge Fliehman said.

He said this was because the cases are unrelated in regards to time and circumstances. The case’s prison sentences are to run consecutively because her course of conduct and harm caused by the offenses were so unusual that one prison sentence can’t adequately reflect the defendant’s conduct.

To contact Daily Advocate Reporter Meladi Brewer, email [email protected].