DA’s Drug Prosecution Team Convicts Six Defendants

The Drug Prosecution Team prosecuted eight defendants the week of September 10, 2012, through September 14, 2012, in Mecklenburg County Superior Court in courtroom 5150 before The Honorable Linwood O. Foust, Superior Court Judge, and in courtroom 5370 before The Honorable F. Lane Williamson, Superior Court Judge.

Tamarlo Hall, 30, was tried for 1) sale of cocaine, 2) possession with intent to sell or deliver cocaine and
3) possession of drug paraphernalia. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on all charges. Judge Williamson sentenced Hall to 15-18 months in prison; that sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of 24 months supervised probation. As a condition of probation, Hall must serve 4 months in the county jail.  Hall then pled guilty to the separate offenses of 1) possession of cocaine, 2) possession of drug paraphernalia and 3) misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Judge Williamson sentenced Hall to 6-8 months in prison. That sentence was suspended pending Hall’s successful completion of 24 months of supervised probation. As one of his conditions of probation, Hall must serve 60 days in the county jail.

Trayon Glover, 24, was tried for 1) sale of marijuana, 2) delivery of marijuana and 3) possession of marijuana with intent to sell or deliver marijuana  The jury returned a verdict of not guilty on all charges.

Donnell Drakeford, 37, was tried for 1) felony possession of cocaine, 2) possession of drug paraphernalia and 3) misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Judge Williamson declared a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.  As a result, the charges were dismissed.

As noted in a separate news release last week, Sunny Chukwu was tried and convicted for heroin trafficking and sentenced by Judge Foust to a minimum of 18 years in prison.

Four defendants pled guilty when their cases were called for trial:

Sylvester Carrington, 32, pled guilty to delivery of marijuana. Judge Foust sentenced Carrington to 7-9 months in prison.

Jordon Forston, 23, pled guilty to felony possession of marijuana. Judge Williamson sentenced Forston
to 5-6 months in prison; that sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of 18 months of
supervised probation. As one of his conditions of probation, Forston must serve 20 days in the county
jail.

Avery Brown, 20, pled guilty to felony possession of marijuana. Judge Williamson sentenced him to 3-4 months in prison; that sentence was suspended upon his successful completion of 18 months of supervised probation.

Michael Garcia, 22, pled guilty to 1) felony possession of cocaine and 2) possession of drug paraphernalia.  Judge Foust sentenced him to 5-6 months in prison; that sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of 24 months of supervised probation. As one of his conditions of probation, Garcia must serve 30 days in the county jail.