Trial date set in inmate drug case

A trial date has been set for a correctional officer and a woman accused of trying to smuggle methamphetamine into the Northern Nevada Correctional Center.

Terrence Petersen and Terril Tungate, 44, face up to 21 years and a $70,000 fine if convicted, according to Judge William Maddox.

Both appeared before Maddox on Tuesday for arraignment. He set their trial for Nov. 27 after being told that Petersen, 37, was not willing to waive his right to a speedy trial.

There is some question as to whether the pair will be tried separately or together.

Prosecutor Anne Langer told Maddox the case was filed as two separate complaints under the same case number.

"We never severed the case in the first place," she said.

However, Maddox proceeded with arraignment as if the two were different cases and told Langer she could file an amended complaint combining the two. He then told Tungate's defense attorney, Karin Lindsay, she could move to have the case severed.

Because the trial date is the same for both defendants, if the motion fails, they could go ahead with the trial.

The two were arrested in an Oct. 17 sting after an inmate tipped prison officials that drugs were being brought into the facility.

Petersen is charged with smuggling 4.35 grams of methamphetamine into the prison.

Tungate allegedly provided Petersen with the drugs.

At an earlier hearing, both defense attorneys said the defendants might implicate each other as part of their defense.

"At this point our defenses our going to be antagonistic to each other," defense attorney Kay Ellen Armstrong said.

Both are charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, providing a controlled substance to an inmate, conspiracy to provide a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.

The charges carry a minimum sentence of one year on each count.

Both defendants are currently free on bail.