After hearing two hours of testimony, Circuit Judge M. James Chaney said he will take another week to decide appropriate sentences for a Vicksburg couple who admitted having crystal methamphetamine and precursor chemicals in the Cherry Street home where they lived with their two small daughters.

Charles Dudley White, 27, and Bethany White, 25, both of 2409 Cherry St., who also pleaded guilty July 13 to child endangerment, face sentences of up to 48 years each from their Oct. 21 arrest.

Chaney reset sentencing for 9 a.m. Tuesday, saying the testimony included information that had not been available to him in presentencing reports he ordered when the couple entered their pleas.

At the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Dewey Arthur asked for the maximum sentences, calling it “an egregious case,” while defense attorneys Jerry Campbell and James “Buck” Penley asked for shorter sentences and said the couple needs drug addiction help more than long prison terms.

“This is a difficult case; I think everybody recognizes that,” Chaney said when testimony and arguments were concluded. “It’s ironic, to some extent, because of the children. Everyone would agree that young children need their parents. It’s also true that one of the reasons this case has so much notoriety is because the children’s lives were in danger.”

The lone prosecution witness, an undercover agent with the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, identified photographs taken at the home when Dudley and Bethany White were arrested. Included were shots of meth fragments on a plate, corrosive meth-manufacturing chemicals and meth pipes near toys and meth-cooking waste in trash bags in the backyard. Loaded, unlocked rifles were also found near where the children, ages 4 and 1 at the time, were playing.

Bethany White testified on her own behalf, saying she had not participated in meth cooking in the home and that her children almost never played in the area where MBN agents and Warren County Sheriff’s Office deputies found them on the day of the bust.

Family members of both Dudley and Bethany White testified that the couple were good parents who “got in with the wrong crowd.” They said the two need help, not punishment.

Also in court Tuesday, a Vicksburg man who admitted injuring a young woman motorcyclist in a drunken-driving wreck on Nailor Road in February was sentenced to serve five years in prison.

Steven L. White, 46, 112 Tower Drive, was given an 11-year sentence with six years suspended. Campbell, who is also Steven White’s attorney, said that since aggravated DUI is not considered a violent crime, Steven White could be eligible for parole after less than a year and a half.

“We had hoped for more,” said Heather Smith, 19, injured when Steven White turned his car into the path of her motorcycle Feb. 25, “but we’re glad he’s off the street and will serve at least some time.”

Included in Steven White’s fines and assessed court costs was $5,000 in restitution to Smith. Smith, who did not have medical insurance at the time, has undergone more than $200,000 in medical procedures and faces at least one more surgery, she said. A civil case is also pending.

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Contact Pamela Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com