Woman pleads guilty in methamphetamine case

Brandy Leigh Parmer stood ready to admit to her role in a methamphetamine case involving a motel room fire, but resisted also pleading guilty to a gun crime.

In the end, she pleaded guilty to both counts last week in Mobile federal court, in exchange for a promise by prosecutors to recommend a sentencing break if she offered information about meth-makers for whom she was buying ingredients.

Parmer, 31, admitted that she bought medication containing pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the manufacture of meth. Logs maintained by pharmacies show that she made at least 179 separate buys.

The plea agreement also required Parmer to plead guilty to use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug felony. That stemmed from a January arrest during which officers found a gun beneath the driver's seat of a car she was riding in.

Parmer said she did not know about the gun. Still, she could be held liable for it, under the law, if prosecutors proved that she was part of a drug conspiracy and that the gun was an element of that conspiracy.

Prosecutors cited receipts for pill purchases and empty pill packets found in the car.

U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose said it was a "pretty weak" gun case, but defense lawyer Gordon Armstrong said that going to trial and losing would have subjected his client to a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. Plus, prosecutors would not have recommended leniency on the drug case, which could have meant another 11 years or more.

"She is certainly remorseful," Armstrong said. "It has totally devastated her life."

Parmer was in a Bayou La Batre motel room July 6 with her husband and another man when a meth-related explosion caused $15,000 to $20,000 in damage. Her husband, Carlton Juan Parmer, suffered severe burns during the blast.