A Malvern man was sentenced to five years in prison Monday after pleading guilty last month in Garland County Circuit Court to felony drug charges stemming from a one-vehicle wreck last summer.
Jason David Hughes, 42, pleaded guilty to possession of meth with purpose to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia and was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with 10 years suspended, on each count, to run concurrently, fined $1,000 and ordered to pay $295 in court costs.
An additional felony charge of possession of marijuana with purpose to deliver and misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance, Xanax, were withdrawn.
According to the affidavit, on July 15, 2017, around 6 a.m., Garland County sheriff's Deputy Richard Huffman was dispatched to a wreck at the intersection of the King Expressway and East Grand Avenue where a truck had struck a concrete barrier.
At the scene, Deputy J.T. Dodge, who initially called in to report the wreck, told Huffman he was following the driver of the truck in his personal vehicle when he saw the truck hit the concrete barrier on the expressway two times.
Hughes told Huffman he was just tired and fell asleep at the wheel. While Huffman was in his unit working on the wreck report, Hughes passed out twice, prompting Huffman to wake him up so he could continue questioning him.
During an inventory of the vehicle for the wrecker service, Huffman found a green backpack with a soft, blue case in the bed of the truck which contained meth, two bags of marijuana and a set of scales. Huffman searched Hughes and found three Xanax in his front pocket.
Hughes was transported by LifeNet to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and later transferred to the detention center upon his release. At the detention center, Huffman took an inventory of the backpack's contents and reportedly found 54.7 grams of marijuana and 3.3 grams of meth. Hughes was also cited for careless and prohibited driving.
Hughes was later released on $7,500 bond and was set to stand trial April 18, but he opted to plead guilty to the charges at a disposition hearing on April 30 with sentencing postponed until Monday.
Local on 06/06/2018