A Steamboat Springs woman responsible for distributing fentanyl that resulted in the death of another local woman has been sentenced to five years of community corrections on Friday, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

The sentencing came after Jessica Leier, 34, entered a guilty plea to distribution of fentanyl, which is a Class 2 drug felony, according to a news release.

“The District Attorney’s Office believed it appropriate for Ms. Leir to be sentenced to 4.5 to 5 years in a Colorado Department of Correction prison, and made that argument at the sentencing hearing,” said District Attorney Matt Karzen in an email to the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

During the sentencing on Friday, Routt County Judge Michael O’Hara III ultimately decided to sentence Leier to five years in the community corrections system — which Karzen described as “essentially a halfway house” — despite the District Attorney’s Office recommending jail time.

“While that was not the sentence we advocated for, it was a lawful sentence, well within the discretion of the Court, and as such we of course respect the Court’s decision,” added Karzen in an email.

On March 5, 2024, Steamboat police responded to a call made around 5 a.m. about an unconscious woman in her home at Dream Island Plaza, according to the arrest affidavit.

The victim, Serena Nichols, 54, of Steamboat, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Routt County Coroner, according to the affidavit.

According to the autopsy report referenced within the affidavit, Nichols died of “mixed drug toxicity involving fentanyl and methamphetamine,” and “the manner of death is an accident.”

Two individuals who knew Nichols and were at the scene around the time of death told police that they were aware that Nichols was a methamphetamine user, but had never seen her use fentanyl pills, says the affidavit.

Both individuals were taken into custody for unlawful possession of controlled substances after police searched the residence, according to the document. They were each interviewed by police at the Routt County Jail.

The affidavit states that Leier was in the residence when one of the individuals found Nichols unconscious, but Leier left the scene when police were called because she had active arrest warrants.

One of the individuals also stated that they knew Leier had given Nichols “half a (fentanyl) pill,” according to the affidavit.

Leier was arrested on March 12 on an active arrest warrant “unrelated to this case,” says the affidavit.

According to the document, Leier told police Nichols had not been feeling well the night before her death.

Leier believed that Nichols “had a tracheotomy which caused mucus buildup that made her wheezy and caused her to cough, blocking her airway and causing her pain,” says the affidavit.

The document states that Leier told police she had offered Nichols fentanyl for pain relief but gave her a “partial” pill because Nichols was “small” and “frail.” Leier stated that she gave Nichols a “quarter” of a pill.

The affidavit says that Leier knew fentanyl is dangerous for those who have not used the drug before, and added that she had never seen Nichols use fentanyl before.

“(That was) why I wouldn’t have offered her a whole pill, ya know, because I know it’s extremely dangerous,” stated Leier in the affidavit.

Leier also told police that she believed the methamphetamine Nichols had been smoking had been “laced with something because it tasted and smelled weird,” according to the affidavit.

According to the document, Leier left the residence for around one or two hours after giving Nichols fentanyl. When she returned to the residence, Nichols was “not breathing and cold to the touch” and she called 911.

Leier told police that she has “extensive experience with drug overdoses” and claimed to have saved 47 people through the use of an opioid overdose reversal drug, according to the affidavit.

The document states that symptoms of fentanyl overdoses include severe respiratory depression.

Leier also told police that she knew fentanyl would not help Nichols’s difficulty breathing, and that it “would make it way worse.”

Later in the evening on March 5, Leier messaged another individual, saying she had “some super fire blue” she was trying to get rid of as quickly as possible.

According to the affidavit, “blue” often refers to fentanyl pills, and “fire” typically means the drugs are potent.

The document states that the message read, “Need to be gone so quick I dropped the price down to $5.”

According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 1,097 people died due to fentanyl overdose in 2023 in Colorado, which is about a 12% increase from 2022, which saw 984 deaths.

From 2020 to 2023, fentanyl deaths in Colorado increased by nearly 93%.

All court fines and fees, which totaled $1,500, were also waived in the case, according to the sentence order.

According to the Colorado Department of Corrections website, community corrections is an alternative to jail time and supervised probation that “requires” the offender to change their behavior.

The website further states that community corrections providers across the state all have the same treatment practices, however, some providers offer specific programs for offenders with substance use disorders, mental health disorders and for offenders convicted of a sexual crime.

“Contemporary research has produced information that prison incarceration, in and of itself, has little impact on long-term behavior change for offenders,” says the website.

The website adds that community corrections is “more economically sustainable” and helps offenders re-integrate into society after receiving treatment, counseling, education and job services.

According to the Colorado Department of Corrections website, around 3,600 people are currently in community corrections in Colorado.

Leier will be transferred from Routt County Jail to Larimer County Corrections once a bed is available, according to the sentence order. Once she is transferred, the five-year sentence will begin.