Barba's mother claims her daughter's Idol elimination set her on a downward spiral.
Season 6 "American Idol" contestant Antonella Barba was sentenced to 45 months in prison on Thursday, stemming from a drug trafficking arrest in October 2018.
The aspiring singer -- who made it to the Top 16 in the competition on Jordin Sparks' season -- pled guilty to 10 separate counts of possession in July, after she was found with nearly two pounds of the drug fentanyl.
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View Story"The case is over," her lawyer, James Broccoletti, told PEOPLE. "My client accepted responsibility and the judge was very fair — very concerned about her. Because she knows what's happening, there's now closure to this part of her life. It's been liberating [for her]. She is able to have a concrete understanding of where she is and where she's going next. With all things considered, she's in the best place she can be emotionally and psychologically."
Broccoletti said she'll receive three months time served and could be out even earlier with good behavior and a drug treatment program.
According to USA Today, she was also ordered to undergo five years of supervised release following her sentence.
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View StoryIn legal documents submitted by her counsel before her sentencing, Barba's team argued "Idol" actually had an adverse affect on her life and career.
According to Fox News, Barba's mother claimed in the docs that her daughter's move to Los Angeles for the show was "a recipe for disaster" -- adding that Antonella's elimination was "devastating to her." That set her on a downward spiral that led to her arrest.
Barba was arrested after an undercover agent found her waiting in a car outside a stash house in Norflk, Virginia with the drugs hidden in a shoe box on the passenger side floor. Her legal team argued she had little "insight" into the drug operation and her "conduct in this offense was limited to this single delivery."