EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (Court TV) — Now that Letecia Stauch has been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the death of stepson Gannon Stauch, the next step is figuring out where she’ll do her time.
Letecia Stauch is in the El Paso County jail on a charge of first degree murder. (El Paso County Sheriff’s Office)
Stauch was poised to remain in the El Paso County jail, where she’s been held since her arrest in March 2022 for Gannon’s death, while another case of hers made its way through the courts: a charge of solicitation to escape jail based on allegations that she asked inmates for help breaking out of jail.
But Judge Gregory Werner dismissed the case at the state’s request, paving the way for Stauch to start serving her sentence in a state prison.
READ MORE: CO v. Letecia Stauch Daily Trial Highlights
In coming days, the Colorado Department of Corrections will assume custody of Stauch and transport her from the El Paso County jail in Colorado Springs to the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center for an assessment to determine where she will be placed.
At Stauch’s Monday sentencing, her attorneys requested that she be placed at the San Carlos Correctional Facility, which houses inmates with persistent and severe behavioral health issues. But neither the judge nor the attorneys have any say on where she ends up — the decision rests with Colorado Department of Corrections.
WATCH: Stepmother Murder Trial: Letecia Stauch Sentenced
“Ultimately, that will be the decision of the Department of Corrections, which facility she goes to,” Stauch’s co-counsel, Josh Tolini, told reporters Monday. “But I sincerely hope that she goes there because I think that she does need a lot of mental health treatment.”
Here’s what we know about the San Carlos Correctional Facility:
- Located in Pueblo, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Colorado Springs.
- 255 beds.
- It’s a level 5 facility, the highest security classification.
- It’s a residential treatment program designed to assess and treat incarcerated people with serious mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities.
- It offers individual and group therapy, educational programs, recreation therapy and recreational activities.
When asked if he objected to the placement, the lead prosecutor on the case said it was not his choice to make. But District Attorney Michael Allen said that wherever Stauch ends up, she’ll be under close watch.
“I can tell you that based on what I know about this defendant, the fact that she’s a flight risk, that she’s violent, the fact that she attacked deputies in a vehicle on her transport back to Colorado, the fact that she solicited other inmates at the jail to escape the jail, I have no doubt that she will be placed in the most high secure facility that the Department of Corrections has, and that’s where she belongs.”
