Williams free on bond after two-day drug trial

A Netawaka man charged with possessing marijuana with intent to distribute after reportedly picking up a pack­age containing the drug at the Whiting Post Office last May is free on bond after the conclusion of a two-day jury trial on Tuesday in Jackson County District Court.

Following nearly three hours of deliberations, jurors found Johnny Lee Williams, 55, guilty of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and not having a tax stamp for the marijuana.

Williams had been charged with possession of mari­juana with intent to distribute, a felony, but jurors agreed to find him guilty of a lesser charge of simple possession, a misdemeanor.

District Court Judge Norbert Marek agreed to reduce Williams’ bond from $250,000 to $600 fol­lowing the verdict and a request from Topeka defense attorney Pantaleon Florez Jr. to reduce the bond. Later, after returning to the Jackson County Detention Center to collect his belongings, Williams was freed on bond.

There is still the matter of sen­tencing in Williams’ case, and Marek set an April 29 hearing for sentencing. Jackson County Attor­ney Shawna Miller said that on the charge of no drug tax stamp, a fel­ony, it was likely that Williams would receive presumptive proba­tion — with the length to be deter­mined based on Williams’ criminal history — as well as on the misde­meanor possession charges.

Williams may also receive credit for time already served at the county jail, where he had been held since May 5 of last year after being arrested by Jackson County sher­iff’s officers following a tip that he was picking up a shipment of marijuana from the Whiting Post Office. Sheriff’s officers testified during the trial that after receiving the tip, they contacted Marcia Rob­ertson, then working at the post of­fice, to hold the package.

During testimony, Robertson noted that Williams had previously received a similar package, and he had told her that there was “food” inside the package. However, she added, “I was expecting it to be a larger package” to contain food.

Deputy Brian Roush of the sher­iff’s office said he had received information from a “confidential informant” that Williams was re­ceiving shipments of marijuana from California through the mail. Roush then testified that he passed the information to Detective Al Dunn of the sheriff’s office, who advised postal workers to flag “any package weighing more than a pound” that would be delivered to Williams.

On May 5, Williams came to the Whiting post office to pick up a package and was later apprehended by sheriff’s officers with the pack­age still unopened, then arrested and taken to jail. Roush said the package was not opened until it ar­rived at the sheriff’s office, and when it was opened, three bundles of marijuana weighing “right around three and three-quarter pounds” were found inside.

Florez contended that since the package was not opened by him, the charge of possession of mari­juana was invalid; Miller argued that Williams “was expecting that package… he knew what was in that package.” Miller also stated that the paraphernalia charge stemmed from the marijuana being wrapped in “baggies” and other materials “used to store, contain or conceal” it.

However, Florez also argued that sheriff’s officers also “didn’t know what was in the box” until opening it, so the possession charges were “premature.” Dunn told him that upon being alerted to the presence of the package, a drug-sniffing dog was taken to the Whiting Post Of­fice to sniff the package, and the result provided “a strong alert” and “a good possibility” that the pack­age contained narcotics.

“I knew what we expected to find in that box,” Dunn said.

Williams was interviewed by sheriff’s officers on the evening of his arrest, and Miller showed jurors a video recording of the interview. However, Florez pointed out that after being asked about the pack­age, Williams said he would not say anything about it without an attorney present; therefore, state­ments made after that were also not valid.

Those statements, Miller noted, included Williams’ disclosure that “about a quarter” of the marijuana in the package was intended for cancer patients on the Kickapoo reservation. Williams also told Dunn that he had a license from California to possess and grow marijuana for medical purposes; Dunn replied that marijuana is still illegal in Kansas.

The amount of marijuana con­tained in the package was also a matter of contention, since Miller noted that only 450 grams of mari­juana was necessary for filing of a charge of possession with intent to distribute. The package intended for Williams, she added, contained nearly four times that amount.

However, Miller later moved to strike the simple possession of marijuana charge against Williams, and Marek agreed to make the charge an alternative to the charge of possession with intent to distrib­ute. Jurors later agreed to find Wil­liams guilty on the lesser charge.

Following the announcement of the verdict, Williams also was or­dered to meet with Chief Court Services Officer James Cyphers on March 22 for a presentencing hearing as a condition of bond prior to the April 29 sentencing date.