HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Marian Theresa Ausiello turns to her mother in Fifth District Court yesterday. Advertisement

Marian Theresa Ausiello, 34, of Pahrump, was sentenced to from 10 to 25 years in prison for trafficking in methamphetamine by Fifth District Judge John Davis yesterday.

Ausiello was arrested the weekend of April 9-10, 2005, after a search warrant was executed by the Scorpion anti-drug task force at a residence at 3081 Ramona Lane. Deputies followed her car to a Horizon Market convenience store at Highway 372 and Linda Street where she was arrested.

Three children were in the car with her, along with three ounces of methamphetamine and baggies. Ausiello was originally charged with child endangerment along with the drug charges.

"I'm sorry to my children. That's all I was trying to do, was give them a good life," a tearful Ausiello said in court. She said her three children don't even know their father and she didn't receive any child support.

Nye County Chief Felony Prosecutor Kirk Vitto told the court Ausiello had a previous drug arrest in 1998 including child neglect. She pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and received probation, showing up in court pregnant.

Vitto said besides the methamphetamine, police who raided her house found hundreds of pills of various controlled substances issued by a multitude of doctors.

"Welfare is below her standards but trafficking in methamphetamine is not," Vitto said, mocking her defense before the judge.

Davis denied a motion from Ausiello's defense attorney to continue the sentencing to another date and withdraw the guilty plea.

Davis had a choice of sentencing her to life in prison or 25 years, but said he considered 25 years an appropriate sentence.

In another Pahrump case, Devon Murray pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and child endangerment. Murray, who was 19 at the time, admitted to the beating death of Elizabeth Salinas, 19, whose body was discovered by her sister at her residence at 910 E. Wilson Road May 13, 2005.

Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 7. The case had been scheduled for trial beginning Monday in Tonopah.

Prosecutors elected not to pursue first-degree murder charges under a plea agreement, his attorney, Jason Earnest, told the court. Davis told Murray he could be subject to a sentence of from 15 to 25 years in prison, Murray has already served 17 months in jail.