photo by: Contributed

Kendall Stiffler

The family of a 21-year-old man who died of a fentanyl overdose more than three years ago was incensed and saddened Friday when the woman responsible for his death was allowed yet another delay in the case — this time a delay in her sentencing for involuntary manslaughter, ostensibly because she had become pregnant while being free on bond.

“Today is three years, five months and 13 days following Kendall’s brain death,” Ashli Gill said after the hearing, about her only son, Kendall Royce Stiffler, reading from a statement she had hoped to read in court. “Three years, five months and 14 and a half days since he took his last breath and life support was terminated so that he could save five human lives through organ donation.”

Yet his family is still without the small closure that seeing Chloe Colby sentenced to prison might provide. As the Journal-World has reported, Colby, 23, was found to have provided deadly drugs from the “dark net” to Stiffler, who was her boyfriend at the time. She pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in July.

Judge Sally Pokorny on Friday granted a monthlong delay in the sentencing of Colby, until Nov. 8. She did not give a reason in open court for the continuance, saying only that a “circumstance” had arisen “that does require a continuance in this case.” Pokorny did not require Colby’s attorneys, Angela Keck and Branden Smith, to request the continuance in open court but met with the parties privately in chambers and emerged 30 minutes after the sentencing was supposed to begin to announce that the hearing wouldn’t happen.

After Pokorny’s brief announcement, the family of the victim told the Journal-World that the continuance was granted because the defendant claimed to be pregnant and didn’t yet know whether she was going to keep the baby and how her condition would comport with a prison sentence. They said it was their understanding that the pregnancy had not actually been confirmed.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Chloe Colby is pictured at her plea hearing on July 3, 2024, in Douglas County District Court.

The dozen or so family members, some of whom had traveled from out of state and were prepared to address the court, expressed disbelief not only at what happened Friday but how it happened, saying they weren’t told of the latest reason for a delay until mere moments before the sentencing was to begin.

Stiffler’s mother, Ashli Gill, who said her family had been “revictimized over and over again by the way that the court process happened,” shared portions of the victim impact statement after the hearing that she was going to read to Pokorny.

The defense has used “stall tactics” for years and has repeatedly not given notice of sought-after delays until the very last minute, Gill said.

“This happened just now, all of this, just now, not yesterday,” when the attorneys talked, said Josi Gill, Stiffler’s 15-year-old sister. “This was now, just now.”

The stress leading up to each court date is considerable, she said, and that stress has been compounded by a number of last-minute delays in the proceeding, as well as court dates falling insensitively on Stiffler’s birthday and death-anniversary date.

“I don’t sleep before these,” Ashli Gill said of the court dates, none of which she has missed. “It’s very, very, very draining, and honestly, I think it’s cruel and insulting to us as the victim’s family.”

Gill was careful to note that she appreciated the judicial system giving “wide breadth” to defendants so that they “can mount a solid defense.”

However, she said she thought some of the legal “tactics” used in the case came at the “emotional expense” of the victim’s family. She said that she felt like the delays were in part meant to “wear down” the family, or the state, to achieve a more favorable outcome for the defendant.

“But us being here and seeing this through is the last thing that we can do for him, so no matter how much and no matter how long, we are going to be here,” she said. “He can’t (be), so we will.”

Gill said she was sharing her frustration about frequent continuances in the hopes of justice being served more swiftly for future victims and their families.

“I hope they can make changes so that these types of things have to stop,” she said.

Gill said she thought the reason that this case has had so many delays is that Colby has been out of jail during it.

“We’ve seen many cases come and go quickly when the defendant has been incarcerated,” Gill said. “She was not. There’s no motivation for her to get an end result in this,” and the more delays, the longer she evades punishment.

Gill also expressed frustration with what she sees as different treatment for people who kill someone with fentanyl vs. people who use a traditional weapon. She believes that own-recognizance bonds for drug dealers who are charged with a death, like the $250,000 OR bond Colby was given, should be reconsidered.

She pointed to Colby apparently continuing to deal drugs in the months immediately after Stiffler’s death.

Another drug dealer, Logan Hastie Morgan, reportedly had asked Colby in a text message in August of 2021, just four months after Stiffler’s death, if she had a way to still get “those bars,” to which Colby replied “nah, I don’t, I could possibly order more because I moved to another apartment but I’d have to get another laptop cops took mine,” and Morgan then invited her over to use his computer to order the pills, according to an arrest affidavit, as the Journal-World reported. “Bars” refers to the street name for Xanax.

Gill acknowledged that she’s not a legal expert and knows that continuances are necessary in certain situations, but when they pile up, going on four years, enough is enough, she said.

“I don’t know what all the rules are for all the different situations; I just know that I don’t like it,” she said. “I don’t like the way the system has worked.”

“I’m not asking for defendants to have any less rights at all,” she added, “I just feel that we should have some consideration.”

In granting the sentencing delay Friday, Judge Pokorny acknowledged that the longer the case is continued the longer closure is delayed, and she said, “None of us take this lightly.”

Deputy District Attorney David Greenwald asked the court to “strongly encourage” everyone to be ready on Nov. 8 and to refuse additional requests for delay.

This case has been going on for three years, he said. “The victim deserves justice also.”

When Colby is sentenced, she faces a minimum of 31 months for the manslaughter conviction and a minimum of 14 months for a drug conviction. At the plea hearing, Greenwald said that Colby had agreed to serve any time she is sentenced to in prison and will not ask for probation or less prison time. Colby also must register as a violent offender for 15 years.

photo by: Contributed

Kendall Stiffler