Williams' probation to include 60-day jail sanction

A former Netawaka resident is facing another 60 days in jail as part of his probation following his conviction on charges related to a May 2015 incident in which he re­portedly picked up a package con­taining about four pounds of mari­juana from the Whiting post office.

During his sentencing hearing on Friday, Johnny Lee Williams — convicted in March by a jury in Jackson County District Court on a felony charge of no drug tax stamp and two misdemeanor charges of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia — was given a 60-day jail sanction by Judge Norbert Marek, to begin Friday, May 13, as part of a 24-month probation pe­riod.

Williams was given underlying sentences of seven months impris­onment on the drug tax stamp charge and consecutive 12-month sentences on the possession charges, to be levied concurrent to the tax stamp charge, despite hav­ing already spent 315 days in jail, according to Jackson County At­torney Shawna Miller.

The 12-month probation period on the drug tax stamp charge was made concurrent to the two con­secutive 12-month probation peri­ods on the misdemeanor charges. Defense attorney Pantaleon Flores Jr. of Topeka said Williams’ pro­bation should be made concurrent with time already served.

However, Marek issued the 60-day jail sanction partly because of the amount of marijuana reportedly included in the package picked up from the Whiting post office a year ago Thursday and partly because of what he perceived as Williams’ at­titude toward the court because of what reportedly happened to Wil­liams while he was in jail.

In a letter published in the March 28 edition of The Holton Recorder, Williams said that after being freed from jail on bond following the March trial, he returned home to the Kickapoo Reservation “to find my animals dead, my belongings gone, my life non-existent.” He al­leged that law enforcement officers did not seek out a Kickapoo tribal elder to look after his property and that “colonization and assimilation (are) alive and well” as a result.

Marek told Williams that while he was “entitled to that belief,” it was questionable whether “tribal leaders” would say that marijuana use fits in with tribal mores and asked him what tribal leaders would make of his position toward legalizing marijuana.

Furthermore, the judge noted, marijuana remains an illegal sub­stance in Kansas, and the only fea­sible way to change that would be to attempt to get the Kansas Legis­lature to legalize marijuana, rather than “do it like you did it,” he told Williams.

After Williams told Marek that he had found a new home and gainful employment in Topeka, the judge delayed the jail sanction until May 13 so that Williams could make arrangements with his em­ployer.

Williams had been originally been charged with possession of mari­juana with intent to distribute, a felony, but jurors at the March trial agreed to find him guilty of a lesser charge of simple possession, a misdemeanor. Miller said at that time that Williams was eligible for presumptive probation on all three charges.

On Friday, Marek made the 60-day jail sanction a condition of probation on the drug tax stamp charge and applied the credit for time served to the probation peri­ods on the misdemeanor charges. The 24-month probation period also begins on Friday, May 13, he added.