KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a woman to 12 years and seven months in prison because she was eight-months pregnant while helping cook and sample methamphetamine.
The lawyer for 26-year-old Lacey Weld of Dandridge says he plans to appeal because U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan opted to add prison time for putting a minor — Weld’s unborn child — at “substantial risk” while making the drugs.
Varlan ruled that the drug use “manifested itself” in actual harm after the child’s birth.
Varlan handed down the sentence Tuesday. Defense attorney John Eldridge told the Knoxville News Sentinel it appears to be the first time a judge has added prison time in such a circumstance.
Eldridge says the guidelines speak only to a child, not mention a fetus.
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