Man gets 70-month term after plea deal in drug case

A Saline County man was sentenced Wednesday to five years and 10 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Kristine G. Baker on a federal count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.

Jay Edward Self, 40, of Benton pleaded guilty in January 2020 to the drug count contained in an indictment handed up in October 2018, in exchange for the government’s agreement to drop a count of use of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which could have resulted in an additional sentence of five years in prison.

Self was arrested April 12, 2018, after a search of his home by Benton police acting on a tip. According to Saline County Circuit Court records, detectives found over 1.5 pounds of marijuana, 2 ounces of methamphetamine, assorted prescription pills, 14.7 grams of psilocybin mushrooms, 12.3 grams of cocaine, digital scales and assorted drug paraphernalia, nearly $5,000 in cash and 14 firearms.

Self was originally charged in Saline County with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, a Class Y felony that carries a possible sentence of 10 to 40 years or life in prison. The charge was dismissed after Self was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2018.

According to the stipulations contained in Self’s plea agreement, the quantity of methamphetamine involved in the offense was 41.56 grams, resulting in a base offense level of 28 with a two-level increase because a firearm was possessed and a two-level decrease for acceptance of responsibility. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Jegley agreed to a third-level decrease, which resulted in a lower guideline sentencing range under U.S. sentencing guidelines.

Baker granted a defense motion for a downward variance in Self’s Criminal History Category from a 2 to a 1, which reduced the guideline sentencing range from 78 to 97 months in prison to a range of 70 to 87 months.

Self’s attorney, David Cannon of North Little Rock, argued for the downward variance on the grounds that Self’s criminal history indicated a steadily escalating addiction to drugs.

“All of his criminal history points are drug offenses,” Cannon said. “It shows that he is a drug addict, your honor. He had finally reached a point where he couldn’t support himself and his habit and turned to dealing to pay for his habit.”

Cannon said a growing body of research has indicated that long-term incarceration for drug offenders is counterproductive.

“Sending someone to prison for long periods of time for being an addict does not promote the law,” he said. “It just punishes the addicts for being an addict.”

Jegley said the government’s position supported a guideline range sentence with no downward variance, arguing that the discovery of the drugs and guns in Self’s residence did not indicate that a more lenient sentence would be appropriate.

“Methamphetamine has a been a scourge in our community for a long time,” she said. “I think for punishment purposes, staying with the guideline range is appropriate.”

After a 15-minute recess to consider the matter, Baker granted the downward variance but noted that Self had already gotten a considerable break by the dismissal of the firearms count. She said the presence of firearms and drugs in the same location was troubling but that his record of only a couple of minor technical violations of his pretrial release was encouraging.

“What I tell defendants regularly is that if you want a high-end sentence in federal court, have drugs and guns together,” Baker told Self. “You’re automatically in a totally different category. … It is punitive, there’s no two ways about it.”

Baker said the plea deal Self agreed to took the sentencing enhancement off the table and that his criminal history category was low for a defendant in federal court, but the mere presence of the guns made the crime far more serious.

“Know going forward,” she cautioned him, “if you are ever tempted, I can’t emphasize enough a high sentence in federal court is what results from having drugs and guns together.”

In addition to the sentence of 70 months in prison, Self was ordered to serve an additional four years on supervised release after he leaves prison.