A Bolton woman faces up to 76 years in prison after being convicted this week on methamphetamine charges.
Kimberly Whitehead, 41, of Bolton was convicted Tuesday of possession of methamphetamine and possession of precursor chemicals with intent to manufacture meth following a two-day trial, Assistant District Attorney Bert Carraway said.
Circuit Judge M. James Chaney set sentencing for 10 a.m. April 17.
Whitehead faces up to up to 76 years in prison — 60 years for the possession of precursors and 16 years for the possession of more than 1.1 gram of meth, Assistant District Attorney Lane Campbell said. At minimum, she must spend a year in prison.
The maximum sentence was doubled from its normal length, Campbell said, because Whitehead has a previous meth conviction in Louisiana. Mississippi law allows for harsher sentencing guidelines for second or subsequent drug offenders.
Whitehead, who was represented by Josie Hudson, contended the drugs and chemicals belonged to her co-defendant, Randall Shane Hulett.
Hulett, 40, pleaded guilty in August possession of methamphetamine and possession of precursor chemicals and was sentenced by Chaney to three years in prison followed by eight years’ probation.
He returned to Warren County from prison to testify at the trial.
“He tried to claim exclusive possession of everything illegal,” Campbell said.
Whitehead and Hulett were arrested at 12:04 a.m. Oct. 4, 2012, after investigators Mike Traxler and Stacy Rollison saw Whithead carry items into an outbuilding behind her home on U.S. 80 where the deputies found an active meth lab.
An Environmental Protection Agency team cleaned up the lab.