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Google* Darius Antwon Brown, 17, Rivers Street, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. He had been charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Karl Maurice "Alabama" Franklin, 42, of Gardendale, Ala. Franklin was killed during a robbery May 4, 2008, at the Sunrise Inn. A related charge of conspiracy to commit aggravated robbery was dismissed.
Brown was sentenced to 18 years in prison. He must serve the entire sentence because he was classified as a violent offender.
An unrelated charge of robbery was dismissed. Brown had been accused of stealing a man's wallet and about $400 on May 13, 2008.
* Gene Anthony Bryson, 45, 38 Elm St. in Finley, pleaded guilty to three counts of theft of property in excess of $1,000. He was accused of stealing items from an Elm Street shed on Nov. 15, from a Dyer County man on Nov. 16 and from a Finley home on Nov. 21.
Bryson was sentenced to three years in a community corrections program for each charge and is to serve those sentences concurrently. He had been incarcerated from Nov. 24 to April 13.
* Gregory T. Maze, address unavailable, was not prosecuted on selling less than half a gram of cocaine and selling more than half a gram of cocaine.
* Franklin Newbern, 56, 804 Compress, pleaded guilty to possessing more than half a gram of cocaine with intent to sell. He was fined $2,000 and sentenced to eight years in a community corrections program. He was incarcerated from Feb. 20, 2008, to Nov. 15, 2008.
* Jerry Dean Sanders, 56, 2441 N. St. John Ave., No. 6, pleaded guilty to theft of property in excess of $1,000. He was accused of taking a 1994 GMC Sonoma out for a test drive and failing to return the car to Wholesale Autos on Aug. 18. He reportedly parked the car in a Ripley car lot and took another vehicle from that car lot.
Sanders was sentenced to three years in prison.
* Keaton Lynn Stafford, address unavailable was granted pretrial diversion on a charge of theft of property in excess of $1,000. He was accused of stealing a 14-foot boat, a 9.5-horsepower motor and a boat trailer on June 26, 2008. He was placed on probation for two years, ordered to pay $949.50 in court costs and forbidden to have any contact with the victim.
* Misty Nicole Vaughn, 28, 117 Dixie, pleaded guilty to failure to appear. She was sentenced to a year in prison.
* Billy Gene Watson, 57, 413 Roberts St., pleaded guilty to one count of violation of the Motor Vehicle Habitual Offender Act. He was sentenced to a year in prison. A second count of the same charge was dismissed.
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do we ever have a trial?
Oh no, no we have court with only words of probation/ dismissed/ not charged ! Same names / same charges not to mention most of them are not charged with not showing up!
a lot of these people are INFORMANTS
Sad. Really sad.
The justice sytem sure does work doesnt it. They will let a crook out to set up junkies just so that they can make a case against someone. The informants steal their money, steal the drugs and in some cases swith the drugs but the DPD continue to use them. We have one hell of a justice system. How is the DPD gonna cover him up the next time he gets caught smoking dope or selling dope.
I love how people can sit and smugly remark about our justice system. There were no trials in these cases because the defendants pleaded guilty. Most DA's do use plea deals to boost other case(s), but they are trying to look at the bigger picture. They can only do so much. Please if you feel you can do any better, get your law degree and become active in helping the system.