One last chance to interview for a pre-sentence report has been provided by Crystal Leah Arndt.

Before being sentenced, a woman convicted of selling drugs on the street was given one more opportunity to share her perspective.

Crystal Leah Arndt was found guilty in June 2022 of trafficking heroin and fentanyl through a “dead drop” in the heart of Prince George. She has twice missed pre-sentence reports interviews, but on Tuesday, provincial court judge Peter McDermick gave her one more chance and postponed the sentencing hearing.

After hearing new evidence about Arndt’s circumstances, including the fact that she had stable home for the first time in six years and was receiving treatment for her own addiction, defense attorney David Jenkins Jr. asked McDermick to grant the respite. He added that Arndt had attended her second appointment for an interview but had arrived 25 minutes late, leaving insufficient time for the procedure to be completed.

Prior to the announcement, Crown prosecution had been seeking 26 months in jail and defense 18 months behind bars. Jenkins did say, though, that after the study is finished, he might make the case for a conditional sentencing order, in which his client would do her time in the community as opposed to a prison.

The conviction is the result of an arrest that was made more than two and a half years ago when RCMP officers in an unmarked vehicle near St. Vincent DePaul observed a man give her some cash and, in return, she took something small out of her bra and placed it in a nearby flower pot for him to pick up.

She was later discovered to be in possession of a number of things, including pre-packaged methamphetamine and drug-related paraphernalia, by the RCMP. At Arndt’s feet, an officer also discovered a baggie with nine flaps of heroin-fentanyl.

Arndt was forewarned by McDermick that the case has dragged on long enough and that the next sentencing hearing will proceed with or without a report.