Man pleads no contest to charge

Special to the Press
by Doug Thompson

A Willis man Tuesday entered a no contest plea in Floyd County Circuit Court to charges of possession of methamphetamine but has a year to stay out of trouble and clear his record.
Judge Ray Grubbs sentenced Duane Lee Gray to 12 months in jail, then suspended the sentence and deferred disposition for 12 months. If Gray stays out of trouble and fulfils the requirements of his probation, the charge will be dropped.
A county grand jury indicted Gray for possession of the schedule II drug on June 2 on charges stemming from an April 3 search.
The plea bargain between Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Shortt and defense counsel James Turk capped a court session spent mostly in the judge’s chambers where most of the cases on Tuesday’s docket were continued to future dates.
Among the cases that were heard Tuesday was a reconsideration by Grubbs of two cases involving county women kicked out of a drug rehab program for smoking cigarettes.
Both April Akers and Denise Moles were sent to jail last month for violating their probation after the New Life Recovery Program expelled them for smoking while in the program. Participants in the program pledge to avoid addictive substances, including nicotine.
Grubbs gave Denise Moles another chance to complete the program, re-suspending an eight-month sentence handed down in March on drug possession charges.
“This is your last chance,” Grubbs told Moles.
April Akers, however, ran out of chances, and Grubbs sent her back to jail for six months on forgery charges. Grubbs said Akers had washed out of the recovery three times and would not receive another try.
James Curtis Duncan of Radford also had a chance to clear his record of a 2007 conviction of obtaining drugs by fraud, but Grubbs ruled a pending assault case violated the terms of his sentence deferral and convicted Duncan of the original charge and placed him on an additional 12 months of probation.
Christopher Eugene Wilson of Copper Hill came to court with a drug-free year on his record from a 2005 conviction of assault and battery, but a positive drug screen from a year ago was still a pending violation and Grubbs returned him to probation.
Grubbs also ordered Debbie Sowers Harvey be released on a $5,000 secured bond while she awaits a hearing for probation violations on firearms charges.