McDaniels gets nearly 12 years in drug case
Published 11:24 am Wednesday, December 7, 2005
angie.thompson@gaflnews.com
TIFTON — A 20-year-old Tifton man a jury found guilty in July of possession of and intent to distribute methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) at the Pizza Hut was sentenced Friday to serve almost 12 years in prison.
Bobby Edward McDaniel and two other young men were arrested at The Tifton Mall Sept. 7.
Investigators confiscated 29 of the pills, more commonly known as Ectasy, from McDaniel and four from Jeremiah Lee Price, 19, of Tifton. The estimated street value of the drugs is $750.
Price and James Darnell a/k/a Jack James Johnson, 22, both pleaded guilty to the same charges and were sentenced in April. Judge Gary McCorvey sentenced Johnson to serve 11 years, 11 months and 11 days in prison, the same sentence as Judge J. Harvey Davis passed to McDaniel Friday.
Judge John D. Crosby sentenced Price to serve 20 years of intensive probation and 15-18 months in a detention center.
“There is a difference between those co-defendants and my client,” defense attorney Joe Kunes said during Friday’s hearing. “My client has no prior felony arrests and convictions.”
MDMA is a Schedule I drug and the possession with the intent to distribute conviction carries a five year to 30 year sentence.
Kunes said McDaniel abided by the rules of “very strenuous bond conditions” from September until April and recommended a probated sentence.
Kevin Hutto, assistant district attorney, said that McDaniel sent a 15-year-old into the Pizza Hut to make a purchase of four ectasy pills.
“He (McDaniel) had on his possession $579 in cash and he was driving a new Jeep Grand Cherokee,” Hutto said. “These drugs were targeted to the teenagers of Tift County.”
McDaniel’s father and mother testified on his behalf and asked Davis for lenient.
“He has been in no other trouble but this,” Herman McDaniel said. “He is a fine young man.”
Daniel said his son’s jail time and the experience since his arrest would deter him from committed another crime.
McDaniel’s mother, Bobbie, read an excerpt from her journal she said she wrote prior to her son’s trial. She told how her son had gone on a mission trip to the “rough” area of Atlanta and of how he had accepted Christ as his savior.
“He was drawn in by bad influences,” McDaniel said.
Hutto said that he “felt bad” for McDaniel’s parents.
“They are good family,” Hutto said. “To whom much is given, much is expected.”
Hutto described McDaniel as “the dope dealer in this matter.”
“He has made his own bed,” Hutto said.
To contact reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321, ext. 208.