Drugs, guns, fireworks don't mix

COEUR d’ALENE — Prosecutors said a 34-year-old convicted felon who threatened his Coeur d’Alene neighbor with a gun after accusing him of sleeping with his fiancée deserves to go to prison. The judge agreed.

At Chris Crosley’s sentencing this week for double felonies, including aggravated assault and being a felon in possession of a firearm, prosecutors said Crosley’s violent actions are a threat to the public.

“He has earned a prison sentence,” Kootenai County deputy prosecutor Casey Simmons said. “Safety to the community is paramount.”

First District Judge Cynthia K.C. Meyer sentenced Crosley Thursday to 15 years in prison with five years fixed, imposing the sentence and giving Crosley a word of advice.

“You need to be a sober father,” Meyer said.

Crosley was drunk, high on meth and carrying a Smith & Wesson pistol when he and his 4-year-old son joined a Borah Avenue neighbor around midnight on New Year’s Eve to shoot fireworks in a parking lot.

Crosley and neighbor Richard Landsiedel did not know each other, police said, but Landsiedel and his 5-year-old son invited Crosley to join them. When Crosley accused Landsiedel of sleeping with his fiancée and began “hip bumping” Landsiedel aggressively, Landsiedel picked up his fireworks and ushered his son to the apartment, police said.

But with his own son standing nearby, Crosley pulled a .40-caliber handgun from his waistband, slammed a shell into the chamber and from 3 feet away pointed the gun at Landsiedel. The men tousled and Crosley accidentally dropped the loaded firearm.

Police said the handgun’s safety switch was not on.

“The pistol has a lever and it indicated it was ready to fire,” Coeur d’Alene Police Detective David Kelley said at an earlier hearing.

Landsiedel fell, got to his feet, pushed Crosley against the wall and told him not to act crazy in front of the children, according to a report.

Crosley’s fiancée, Monica Mitcham, told the court at an earlier hearing that she knew Crosley was a felon and was not allowed to have guns. His conviction stems from a California assault case.

That’s why she kept the pistol in her car, Mitcham said. She told the court she and Crosley had been at a New Year’s party earlier, where Crosley started drinking and using drugs.

“He goes crazy on meth,” she said.

Crosley had initially been charged with an additional felony, injury to a child, which was dismissed as part of his guilty plea. A no-contact order was modified to allow Crosley to visit his son.

Meyer said Crosley’s crime was made more odious because it was committed in front of kids.

“The two children were present during the incident and that makes it worse,” the judge said.