Cotton found not guilty of Jan. 17 robbery
He is still facing another armed robbery charge from a Jan. 30 incident in which police say he was caught in Bartow County after fleeing in a stolen vehicle.
A Floyd County Jury acquitted Dustin Earl Cotton of accusations on Thursday that he robbed a man at gunpoint on Mathis Road earlier this year.
Adron Almond told the jury his Suzuki Katana ran out of gas around 2 a.m. on Jan. 17. A man, who Almond identified as Cotton, drove up in a blue Hyundai Tiburon and gave him a ride to a gas station.
On the way back, they were followed by another car, which Almond described as a gold car.
During the ride Almond said they talked about motorcycles as well as the price of meth and other drugs.
Once they got back to the motorcycle, Almond said Cotton pulled a gun and pointed it at him while another man, who he never got a look at, got out of the gold car.
Assistant Floyd County Public Defender Jon Speiser asked Almond if he could identify a woman in the back of the Tiburon or the man who got out of the gold colored car. Almond said he could not, but he clearly recognized Cotton.
While Cotton was found not guilty, he still faces another armed robbery charge from the Jan. 30 robbery of a Marathon gas station at 2918 Martha Berry Highway. In that robbery police say he grabbed a woman and demanded she get into a vehicle.
According to police reports, the woman struggled with Cotton before she fell to the ground, at which point police say he fled in her vehicle. After a chase, he was arrested in Bartow County and then taken to the Floyd County Jail.
He has not been indicted on the Jan. 30 armed robbery.