Five years for CSP trooper shooting accomplice

GLENWOOD SPRINGS - Nichole Brownell received a five-year prison sentence Friday for trying to help Steven Appl hide and escape after he shot a state trooper in 2006.

She at one point appeared to say with a sad smile, “I understand,” when District Judge Denise Lynch told her “I don’t believe probation is appropriate.”

Brownell, 41, was convicted May 21 of two counts of being an accessory to the shooting of former Colorado State Patrol Trooper Brian Koch. Koch survived but has permanent injuries. He left the CSP and became a safety consultant with Conoco Phillips.

Lynch said a community corrections program did not accept Brownell.

“You know better than anyone that you have probably one of the most severe addictions I have ever seen,” said Lynch, who runs the judicial district’s drug court.

Police said Appl, a methamphetamine dealer, shot Koch during a traffic stop south of Silt on Oct. 24, 2006. Appl shot himself at a police checkpoint the next night. Brownell helped Appl hide and try to escape by arranging a ride for him, police said. A witness at trial said Brownell sold meth that Appl supplied and at one point she owed him over $15,000 in drug money.

Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Pototsky said since the 1980’s Brownell has had 11 misdemeanor cases, five DUIs, numerous failures to appear in court and has had her probation revoked 11 times.

Brownell is also scheduled for trial Oct. 8 in a 2005 case involving drug distribution allegations.

“She doesn’t get it. I don’t think she’s going to get it,” Pototsky said. “She’s a danger to society.”

Pototsky called a letter Brownell wrote to the court a “feeble attempt” to avoid prison. He said it’s “ridiculous” for Brownell to say she’s never had a chance for rehabilitation since she’s been on probation so many times.

He also brought up Brownell’s Aug. 16 arrest at Denver International Airport. Authorities arrested her there after getting tipped off, they said, that Brownell had purchased a one-way ticket to Puerto Rico. Police believe she intended to disappear and avoid sentencing. She wasn’t legally allowed to leave the state without permission from a judge.

Pototsky said, “She says she wasn’t fleeing — It’s ridiculous to say, ‘I was going to Puerto Rico only on a vacation before I get sentenced.’”

Defense attorney Chip McCrory said Brownell has made mistakes and has an “overwhelming” drug and alcohol addiction, but the system has failed her because it never led her to a real opportunity for treatment.

“I find it interesting she is being supervised by probation for a felony drug offense, and when she tests positive for alcohol and drugs in 2008, nothing happens. They just make a note of it and put it in the file,” McCrory said.

At trial McCrory maintained that Brownell never did anything illegal and she would have had to do more than just fail to tell police about the shooting to be an accessory. He said outside the courtroom that he believes a number of mistakes were made in trial, the jury was given some irrelevant evidence, and Brownell plans to appeal the case.

McCrory asked for a four-year prison sentence while Pototsky asked for a greater sentence. McCrory said Brownell seems to have been targeted since Appl isn’t alive to punish.

“I have felt throughout this case that Mr. Appl was not available to be punished and as a result I think the system was looking for anyone else available to punish,” he said.

Cori Graham, 29, of DeBeque, who police said also tried to help Appl escape by driving the truck Appl shot himself in, was still scheduled Friday for trial in December. But her attorney has said she only drove Appl because he had a gun.

Wayne Hangs, a 46-year-old truck driver who owned the home Appl hid in, was also accused as an accessory. He struck a plea deal that could lead to the case against him getting dismissed after an 18-month deferred judgment and sentence. As part of the deal, he testified against Brownell and is expected to testify against Graham if her case goes to trial.