A young woman previously sentenced to 18 months in prison for a fatal 2011 hit-and-run was back in Anchorage Superior Court Monday, pleading guilty to an unrelated attempted perjury charge.
Ashley Bashore, 23, was sentenced to two years on an ankle monitor. The state originally charged her with perjury, according to court records. The charge was reduced to attempted perjury as part of her plea deal.
Bashore was accused of telling a grand jury a man had robbed her at gunpoint, and that she'd never met the assailant before. But police said there is a video showing Bashore and the man together at a store on the night of the alleged robbery.
Bashore showed up for the brief change of plea and sentencing hearing with one leg of her black slacks hid a monitoring device strapped to her right ankle.
She apologized to the court for wasting its time and money.
Superior Court Judge Michael Spaan noted the charge was a "particularly egregious offense."
Perjury is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years.
Bashore said in a brief interview after the hearing that she accepts the charge as well as the penalty, but she lied under duress.
"I feared for my life," she said, adding she does not believe the alleged robber should go unpunished. "I deserve the time I got for lying in court. I should have been completely honest under oath."
Bashore is familiar with court proceedings. She was 19 when she struck and killed Hubert Tunuchuk, who was walking in the road near a narrow sidewalk curb on the Tudor Road overpass above the Seward Highway.
Bashore tried to explain the damage to her Hyundai Sante Fe by telling a friend she had hit a stray dog, the records say.
Under a plea agreement, Bashore admitted to taking her eyes off the road, attorneys said at that time.
On Monday, the judge also imposed the remainder of Bashore's probation in the hit-and-run case, as she violated her probation conditions by once again getting in trouble with the law.
Bashore said she feels remorse over Tunuchuk's death and has written his family and apologized.
"I am deeply sorry to the family," she said. "It's taken a toll on me, and people think I'm not remorseful when I truly am."
Bashore said she is a full-time college student, studying medical office administration, and is making the best of her circumstances.