"ANOTHER CHANCE" WILL HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL JAIL TIME IS SERVED

Amberli Kuna is seven and a half months pregnant and will spend the
remainder of her six-month sentence in jail because, she said, life on the
street and making and selling methamphetamine was all that she had to
survive on.

Criminal Court Judge Lillie Ann Sells told Kuna, 24, she had run out
of chances and revoked her probation because Kuna had tested positive
for methamphetamine and had continued to get arrested despite being on
probation.

"This is a perfect example of what happens to people who get involved
with drugs," Sells said Tuesday in handing down her ruling. "I have
seen lots of people who were underprivileged and disadvantaged who
work hard every day and don't get involved in drugs."

State Probation Officer Juanita Stone testified that she signed
violation warrants against Kuna just two months after Kuna was placed
on probation because of arrests and the positive drug test.

Sgt. Rebecca Seiber, who testified she knew Kuna from previous
investigations and who had tried to talk to the defendant about the
direction of her life, said April 4 she knew Kuna's license was
revoked when she saw her driving a BMW in the city. She arrested Kuna
and on her person found one gram of methamphetamine.

Kuna testified that when she was released from jail, she had nowhere
to go. "The streets are all that I had. I don't have anybody."

The Crossville woman who ended up in Cumberland County with her
ex-husband testified that she lost one child to death and that two
other children had been taken from her because of her drug arrests.

She was raised by a grandfather but when he died when she was age 14,
she had no where to go. Because she has no family here, Kuna said, and
only has a sixth grade education, she said she turned to making meth
as a means to survive.

She saw her father, a resident of Alice Springs, Australia, for the
first time since age five a few months ago. He has offered to help her
relocate away from Cumberland County and to help her rebuild her life,
including helping her reclaim her children.

"Gosh, she has not had anyone to support her since she was 14," Public
Defender Joe Fendley said. "She needs to be turned over to her father."

Despite tearful pleas from Kuna to be allowed another chance on
probation and to leave the area with her father, Assistant Attorney
General Kevin Poore opposed the request, stating the state's position
was that she serve the remainder of her six month sentence.

"You are pregnant and were in a meth lab," Sells said as she handed
down her ruling that Kuna would remain in custody.