Judge: Grandmas aren't methheads

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

HAYES CENTER, Nebraska -- Hitchcock County, Nebraska, District Judge David Urbom told a Missouri woman charged with possession of methamphetamine, "Grandmas aren't methheads."

Melissa L. Phillipis of Springfield, Missouri, told Judge Urbom through her attorney Ryan Wilcox that she is ashamed of herself, that the past month in jail has helped her think through her life, that she wants to return to Missouri and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. She wants to be home for the impending birth of her first grandchild.

County attorney D. Eugene Garner explained that Phillipis was caught with drug paraphernalia, residue of methamphetamine and less than one ounce of marijuana for which she was arrested in Culbertson on Sept. 27.

In exchange for Phillipis pleading guilty to possession of meth, Garner dismissed the marijuana charge and recommended that she receive time served since her arrest for her sentence.

Judge Urbom found Phillipis guilty, and granted her unusual request to waive a pre-sentence investigation and proceed directly to sentencing.

Wilcox told Judge Urbom that although his client was breaking the law, she was honest and claimed the drugs. "She stated, 'They're mine.' She did the right thing," Wilcox said, by not implicating anyone else.

Phillipis told Judge Urbom that during her time in jail, she's learned that "my life is not what I want it to be. It's really opened my eyes." She admitted that she was charged with and served time for possession of methamphetamine in 2001, but that she had been clean for eight years. It was a spinal injury and the use of prescription pain killers that "sparked" her addiction, she said, and she began to use meth again.

At 43 years old, "I'm too old for this," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Judge Urbom told Phillipis, "Clearly, you have a drug addiction. Apparently, it's come back, and you are still an addict."

While the judge didn't necessarily agree with Phillipis' assertion, "Once an addict, always an addict," he told her, "You are right about one thing. You are too old for this. You're going to be a grandma. Grandmas aren't methheads. Grandmas don't do meth. Grandmas aren't addicts."

Judge Urbom sentenced Phillipis to time served and told her, "Go back home Do what you need to do." He cautioned her that if she didn't address her addiction, "Instead of finding you doing drugs at a truck stop, we'll find you dead in a truck."