Ex-Marshall Star Draws Sentence Of 10 Years In Prison

A former Marshall basketball star, now a quadriplegic, was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison for distributing cocaine. It was the lightest sentence possible.

Tyrone Phillips could have been sentenced to life in prison.

But U.S. District Judge Robert Staker said the defendant’s medical condition is “expected to deteriorate.”

“I don’t want to be callous, but a 10-year sentence might well be a life sentence for him,” Staker said.

Staker denied a request from Phillips that he be allowed to return to his home in Winston-Salem, N.C, and report to prison at a later date. Phillips, who was paralyzed in a 1995 automobile accident, will serve his sentence at a federal medical correctional center in Lexington, Ky.

Phillips was convicted in March on two counts of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and three counts of having his father and others distribute cocaine.