AUBURN - A Port Byron mother has admitted driving drunk while her 11-year-old daughter was in the car.

The guilty plea in Cayuga County court Thursday of Tricia Nelson, 35, of 10924 Eldridge Road, comes less than a week after manslaughter and drunk driving charges were filed against Jerry L. Lamphere, 31, of 59 West St., Auburn, in the death of his 4-year-old daughter, Brooke, from a car accident Friday, July 21.

Nelson pleaded guilty to the felony crime of driving while intoxicated and to the misdemeanor crime of endangering the welfare of a child.

Nelson admitted she was driving with a .24 blood alcohol count May 28 when she pulled her car out of a Conquest parking lot to go northbound on Route 38. Nelson hit a car traveling southbound.

She was previously convicted of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated Nov. 18, 2003, which raised this drunk driving offense to a felony.

Nelson agreed to forego the presentation of her case to a Cayuga County grand jury and pleaded guilty under a prosecutor's information.

Judge Peter Corning told her she should enter alcohol treatment before her sentencing #- not because she wants to avoid prison time but because alcoholism is “a disease and it will destroy your life.”

Her sentenced is scheduled for Sept. 7.

Also in court:

€ Marvin Brotzman, 26, of Bradford County, Pa., had his term of probation extinguished and was sentenced to time served. Brotzman was in court because of an alleged violation of his term of probation with criminal convictions in Pennsylvania.

He was sentenced to five years probation for a 2002 third-degree attempted burglary of anhydrous ammonia from a Genoa farm to make methamphetamine. Since his New York conviction, Brotzman has been convicted of four offenses in Pennsylvania, including conspiracy to manufacture drugs, and served prison time.

Six days after his release in Pennsylvania, Brotzman was in court in New York.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Jon Budelmann argued that Brotzman should be sentenced to prison time for reoffending on a meth-related charge and send a message that anhydrous ammonia thieves coming from Pennsylvania will be punished.

Corning said he would have sentenced Brotzman to state prison time to run at the same time he served in Pennsylvania if the violation of probation had been brought before him earlier.

Brotzman and attorney Kevin Taylor said that he had completed two drug treatment classes and was committed to keeping off meth. Brotzman added he will be able to enter an in-patient program that runs up to two years while completing a Pennsylvania probation term.

“I don't want to live this way anymore,” said Brotzman, who has an 8-year-old daughter.

€ Harold E. Shorter, 32, of 7 Aurelius Ave., Auburn, entered a guilty plea in front of Judge Mark Fandrich to the felony crime of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance. Shorter admitted selling crack cocaine. His sentencing is schedule for Sept. 5.

€ Whitt White, 23, of 28 Perry St., Auburn, had his bail raised to $10,000 cash or $20,000 bond. White was able to post a $4,000 bond earlier this month on felony burglary and criminal mischief charges related to the police allegation that with two others he broke into and stole from Jake's Liquor Store in Auburn July 2.

White is now accused of stabbing a 21-year-old man while out on bail. He was arrested this week on the charge that he stabbed Brandon J. Bennett, 21, of 26 Jefferson St., Auburn, in the upper back at the intersection of Perrine Street and Rock Avenue early Sunday morning.

Police said Raven E. Coffin, 20, of 6 Willard St., Auburn, had been the target of an assault that Bennett intervened in.

Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net