By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – There will be no bigamy trial in Lewis County Superior Court next week.
A former Lewis County woman who lives in Shelton was sentenced yesterday to 30 days in jail for marrying a man when she apparently already had two husbands.
Carrie R. Justus, 45, pleaded guilty as charged, but made a so-called Alford plea and in her written statement to the court said she maintains her innocence.
Justus was charged in December after her husband informed a sheriff’s detective he had learned from his wife during an argument she was still married to someone else.
The husband, Steven Felix, is serving time in a state prison near Spokane. Her second husband is incarcerated in a North Carolina prison. Her first husband lives in Sequim, although she claimed that was not a valid marriage, according to court documents.
Lewis County prosecutors claimed Justus married Felix in Lewis County in August 2007; Justus said in February they actually wed in Las Vegas.
Justus’s attorney wrote she believed she had affirmative defenses, but recognized a high probability of conviction if she went to trial and that she wished to accept a plea offer.
Bigamy is a class C felony, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. The standard sentencing range for bigamy is between zero and 364 days.
Justus was able to take advantage of a first-time offender option, with a standard sentencing range of zero to 90 days.
Lewis County Superior Court Judge Richard Brosey yesterday gave her 30 days, and noted she could serve her time on electronic home monitoring.
He also fined her $1,000 and while he didn’t specifically order her to dissolve any of her marriages, she is required to engage in only law abiding behavior.
Lewis County Deputy Prosecutor Joely O’Rourke said today the judge asked her to take care of her divorces and she said she was in the process of doing so.
She would be breaking the law and violating the conditions of her sentence if she didn’t follow through, according to O’Rourke.
O’Rourke said Justus was cooperative and wanted to take care of the situation. It seemed she thought the husbands took care of dissolving the marriages, or probably didn’t know what she should have done or couldn’t afford it, she said.
“Although she did break the law, she didn’t strike me as a person who set out negligently to do that,” O’Rourke said.
Neither Justus nor her lawyer, Eric S. Valley whose office is in Shelton, returned phone calls for comment.
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For background, read “Former Chehalis woman accused of bigamy” from Sunday February 5, 2012, here
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter