Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A Shawano teen convicted last year of multiple felony counts related to a pair of joyriding sprees in 2013 failed to have her 6½-year prison sentence vacated after a motion hearing Wednesday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court.
Lindsay R. Holstrom, 18, was sentenced in March after pleading no contest in January 2014 to five counts of auto theft, as well as felony counts of reckless endangerment, fleeing an officer and bail jumping.
The sentence also called for her to spend another 6½ years on extended supervision after she serves her prison time.
Holstrom was 16 at the time of the offenses, but was tried as an adult.
Holstrom claimed ineffective assistance of counsel and that the sentence was unduly harsh in her post-conviction relief hearing Wednesday.
However, Shawano-Menominee Circuit Court Judge James Habeck, who passed sentence on Holstrom last year, ruled there was no new evidence showing her counsel had been ineffective.
The ruling clears the way for Holstrom to take her case to the court of appeals.
Holstrom was accused of stealing three cars and trying to steal a fourth during a 12-hour crime spree in Shawano on May 12, 2013. She was waived into adult court on the charges.
She was later accused of stealing another car in the city on June 21, 2013, after she was released on a $3,000 signature bond in the earlier case. A $10,000 cash bond was ordered after her second arrest.
During the June 21 incident, Holstrom drove through several yards attempting to elude police, striking and damaging a boat trailer at one point and ramming the front driver’s side corner of a patrol car that had pulled up alongside her, according to the criminal complaint.
The roughly quarter-mile pursuit ended with Holstrom ditching the vehicle and fleeing on foot. The Police Department’s K-9 unit was brought in, and Shawano County sheriff’s deputies assisted in the search. She was located in a nearby backyard.
Three other felony counts of bail jumping and 12 misdemeanor bail jumping counts were dismissed under the plea agreement, along with misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer, theft and criminal damage to property.
Habeck’s 6½-year sentence was harsher than recommended by the state.
District Attorney Greg Parker had recommended a withheld sentence and a year in jail as a condition of four years of probation.
In comments after the sentencing, Parker said he agreed with Habeck’s decision. He said Habeck saw Holstrom as a risk to the community, given a record that included additional offenses while she was out on bond.