Deborah Brackett#03240-180
Federal Sentence: 10 years mandatory minimum
Offense: Conspiracy to Distribute Methamphetamine
Court: Western District of Texas
Priors: One arrest. See below
Date of sentencing: 3/27/02
Date of birth: 5/29/60
Projected release date: 2/11/2011
Nature of priors: In 1999, Deborah provided lodging to a female friend who was a methamphetamine user like Deborah. When local authorities learned of their drug use, they raided Deborah’s house. They found 3.57 grams of methamphetamine in her roommate’s purse, along with drug paraphernalia, scales, ledgers, and a gun located in Deborah’s room. She claims the gun was for protection at the time because she lived near railroad tracks and a man was jumping railroad cars and murdering people. Deborah was arrested, but her case was dismissed in lieu of her federal sentence.
Nature of offense: Deborah was addicted methamphetamine. In Oct. 1998 she began selling methamphetamine to subsidize the cost of her addiction. Around April 1999, Deborah learned that her supplier had been arrested. She became scared and claims she stopped selling at this time.
In March 2000 authorities in Texas arrested Deborah after one of her codefendants was arrested and informed authorities of her drug use. Based solely on this information and using an estimated quantity of the drug she could have sold during this time, the government charged Deborah for selling 1.41 kg of methamphetamine from Oct. 1998 to April 2000. She pleaded guilty, but because of the gun enhancement from her previous charge, she was ineligible for the safety valve and received the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.
Sentences of others involved: Deborah’s three codefendants received sentences of 14 years, four years and three years.
Guideline sentence: At least 500 grams but less than 1.5 kilograms of methamphetamine results in a base offense level of 32. Deborah received a 2-point reduction for her acceptance of responsibility and an additional 1-point reduction for assisting authorities. But a 2-point gun enhancement from her previous offense raised her total offense level to 31. With a criminal history category of I, Deborah’s guideline range was 108-135 months. However, the mandatory minimum of 120 months trumps the guidelines.
Deborah’s gun enhancement proved costly. It not only prevented her from receiving the safety valve, but now she cannot receive the standard one-year reduction in her sentence for successfully completing the Residential Drug Abuse Program in prison.
Personal background: Deborah first began abusing methamphetamine when she was 18 years old. Her addiction escalated when she married her husband in 1986. Together, they consumed methamphetamine daily until Deborah became pregnant with her eldest son. Concerned for the health of her child and weary of her addict lifestyle, she left her husband, moved in with her mother, and managed to stay clean for several years. But around 1998 she began abusing the drug again, culminating in her eventual arrest. At that point, Deborah sought professional treatment. She joined DAIRE, a drug treatment facility in Texas, and Narcotics Anonymous while on pre-trial services and received excellent reports. She currently is waiting to become eligible for the drug treatment programs in prison.
Nursing has also been an important part of Deborah’s life. She worked as a nurse for nine years and was one class short of an Associate’s Degree in Nursing. Unfortunately, she couldn’t afford the $1,200 tuition for her final clinical performance test. Deborah has two children, ages 11 and two, the youngest having Down Syndrome. Deborah also cared for three sick family members: her nephew, who is paralyzed from the chest down; her father, who has prostate cancer, diabetes, and deteriorating hips that will eventually confine him to a wheelchair; and her sister, who died of a heart attack but was brought back to life and now lives with a defibrillator in her chest.
Compiled from PSR and inmate information. JC 10/15/02