(05-09) 14:03 PDT REDWOOD CITY -- A former exotic dancer from Pleasanton was sentenced to a year in jail today after she was caught on videotape doing drugs and having sex with a Pacifica man who died of a heart attack during their romp at his home.
The video camera, which the pair had set up to record their escapades, taped the 43-year-old man's death and then captured Nicole Lynn Faller, 31, moving his body around, including dragging it out of the room, before calling 911 about five minutes later, prosecutors said.
As she waited for paramedics, Faller, on parole for a felony drunken-driving conviction, was videotaped pocketing the man's remaining drugs, prosecutors said -- about 5 grams of methamphetamine.
The incident March 18, 2006, was the latest legal problem for Faller, who was convicted of twice driving under the influence in 2001 and had her parental rights stripped before being sentenced to prison in April 2002 on the second DUI, San Mateo County prosecutors said.
"I'd really like to get some help," Faller told Judge John Grandsaert during her sentencing today in Superior Court. "This almost cost me my marriage. I've pretty much lost everything."
Faller pleaded no contest in January to one felony count of drug possession in the videotape case. Under the plea deal, she faced a maximum of 32 months in prison. Prosecutors dropped two other minor drug-related counts, and Faller was not charged with causing the man's death.
Faller had initially faced up to six years in prison under California's "three strikes" law because she had a previous strike for her second DUI conviction, in which she struck a Caltrans worker with her car in September 2001, breaking his leg, prosecutor Ivan Nightengale said.
"Simply put, she's a dangerous, reckless individual," Nightengale told the judge.
Defense attorney Raymond Buenaventura argued that Faller needed psychiatric and substance abuse treatment, not prison time.
"She has a history of mental health problems that have compounded her issues," Buenaventura said. "She has nightmares about what happened."
Grandsaert agreed to not consider the previous strike conviction in Faller's current case, noting the rehabilitation steps she had taken since being released on $10,000 bail.
"She has clearly wreaked havoc on people around her," Grandsaert said, but her "efforts prove she is amenable to probation."
The judge sentenced Faller to one year in county jail and three years' probation and required her to complete a residential drug treatment program.
Faller was handcuffed and taken into custody in the courtroom, turning to mouth "bye" to a man who had accompanied her.
