Jamie Lee Chris Schammel, 22, was the lookout for the "cookers," who were manufacturing

the illegal drug in a southwest Austin basement when a methamphetamine laboratory flash fire and explosion resulted in the death of a man.

For his role in the crime, Schammel was sentenced to 115 months -- nine years and seven months -- in prison.

At Thursday's sentencing, Schammel said, "I apologize to the community and to the Chilson family and to my own family."

He also promised District Court Judge Fred A. Wellmann he will seek chemical dependency treatment for his drug addiction while in prison and also take education courses.

Troy Alan Meyer, 36 of Austin, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role as a cooker in the Jan. 13, 2001, methamphetamine laboratory flash fire and explosion.

Meyer entered a plea of guilty to third degree murder charges rather than let a jury decide his fate at trial. District Judge Donald E. Rysavy heard the case and sentenced Meyer.

Schammel went on trial in late January for his role in connection with the death of James Erick Chilson, 42, who died of severe burns over 90 percent of his body.

According to the Austin Police Department's criminal complaint and trial testimony, as well as admissions of guilt by the defendants, Chilson, Meyer and Schammel were making methamphetamine in the basement of the home occupied by Chilson, his live-in girlfriend and the woman's 4-year old son in the early morning hours of Jan. 13, 2001.

Two others, who visited the house and observed the illegal actions and supplied materials for making methamphetamine, were never charged, Wellmann said, because of insufficient evidence.

When an Austin police officer parked his car in an alley behind the Chilson-Johnson home at 1009 11th Ave. SW, on an unrelated activity, the car was noticed by the occupants of the Chilson-Johnson home.

They panicked and attempted to dump the materials, including highly flammable Coleman fuel, down a basement drain.

The pilot light on a nearby water heater or cigarettes left in an ash try by the cookers ignited the flash fire and explosion, according to police.

Meyer escaped injury and took the finished drug product and raced from the scene, eluding police.

Though injured, Schammel ran to the home of a girlfriend nearby.

Chilson ran naked, his clothes burned from his body, but was intercepted by police and, with his girlfriend and her boy, taken into custody.

He died of burn injuries at Regions Hospital in St. Paul six weeks after the incident.

Schammel was caught and also treated at the hospital. When he recovered and returned to Austin, Austin police waited until he was adequately healed from the burn injuries and then arrested him in connection with Chilson's death and the illegal drug manufacturing.

Schammel pleaded guilty in the midst of his trial.

The case attracted the attention of the Minnesota Attorney General's office because, in part, it represented the first death investigated after the manufacture of methamphetamine at a clandestine laboratory in Minnesota criminal justice history.

Assistant Minnesota Attorney General Steven L. Schleicher prosecuted the case. He was assisted by Mower County Attorney Patrick W. Flanagan.

Schammel was represented by Ross Lunning, a public defender.

In Sleicher's absence Thursday, Flanagan told Judge Wellmann the pre-sentence investigation by the Minnesota

Department of Corrections clearly distinguished between Meyer's and Schammel's roles as cooker and lookout, respectively. Therefore, the stiffer sentence for Meyer was correct and the 115 months sentence for Schammel was also appropriate.

Defense attorney Lunning was handicapped by the plea agreement. He could not argue for a downward departure in the sentence for his client. However, he did argue that the judge not make an upward departure.

"His role was very minor," Lunning told the court. "He was a lookout."

Lunning also asked the judge to consider the "trauma Mr. Schammel has been through."

Lunning said the burn injuries he suffered are a " life sentence of pain and disfigurement" for Schammel.

Then, with his father and grandmother watching from the spectators' gallery, the defendant expressed his remorse and promised to turn his life around while in prison.

Lunning asked the judge to allow testimony by the defendant's father and grandmother, but it was denied.

Wellmann said the presence of a 4-year-old child in the home at the time of the drug manufacturing and ensuing flash fire and explosion was an aggravating factor.

"The child is a victim because it lost a father," he told Schammel.

Also, Wellmann said the fact that the adults were manufacturing drugs in a "high-density residential neighborhood where the houses are so close together" was still another aggravating factor in handing down sentences for the defendants' crimes.

Wellmann accepted the plea agreement and sentenced Schammel to 115 months in prison.

He must serve a minimum of 78 months before being eligible for parole and will be given credit for time served since his arrest.

All other controlled substance and other charges against Schammel will be dismissed.

Lee Bonorden can be reached at 434-2232 or by e-mail at :mailto:lee.bonorden@austindailyherald.com