Marcus Phipps was recently sent to serve a 18—45 month prison sentence on a category B drug trafficking felony for which he was granted a diversion program and probation for in February 2020.
Phipps appeared in Sixth Judicial District Court recently and admitted to four violations of his 36-month probation.
Phipps’ attorney Humboldt County Alternate Public Defender Derrick Penney asked the court to place his client back on probation and said that Phipps had substantial back surgery in April and is still using a walker to get around.
The crime for which Phipps was originally charged includes a mandatory prison sentence, but the charge for which he pleaded guilty to was reduced to avoid the mandatory prison sentence, according to Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Kevin Pasquale.
“All he had to do to avoid prison was keep his nose clean and go to drug court and complete drug court,” said Pasquale. “From my first hand observation he did darn little for drug court, its hard for me to remember anybody who put forth less effort than Mr. Phipps.”
Pasquale recommended that Phipps be sent to prison for a minimum of 28 months.
Phipps told the court that he understands it appears that he’s put very little effort into trying to avoid the consequences of prison, but said that he is trying to get his medical reinstated to return to rehab for his back,
“I wanted to try to participate in probation, I understand I’ve messed up in the past,” said Phipps. “I would ask for one more chance from you but I understand if I don’t have any more chances.”
The diversion program was rescinded by Sixth Judicial District Court Michael Montero and Phipps was sentenced to serve 18—45 months in prison on the category B trafficking felony with 27 days credit for time served and an order to pay a $250 public defender fee, $60 forensic fee, $25 administrative assessment and $153 DNA collection and analysis fee.
“You are going to serve this sentence, I understand this medical condition, it does present some problems but at the same time, you may get some better treatment,” said Montero. “You haven’t had any physical therapy since June of this year and now we’re at the end of September. I’m optimistic that maybe you can get some better medical treatment in that environment.”
