Felon sentenced to 10 years in prison for gun, drugs
One of two suspects arrested on multiple felony charges after a routine traffic stop earlier this year was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court.
Jima Dawn Marshall, 24, a felon on parole who has remained in custody since her arrest Feb.
26, pleaded guilty to felony charges of possession of firearms by certain persons, possession of drug paraphernalia and unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime and was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years on each charge, with 10 years suspended, all to run concurrently.
Additional charges of simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, possession of meth with purpose to deliver and theft by receiving of a firearm were withdrawn as part of the plea deal. Marshall was also fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $315 in court costs upon her release.
The driver of the vehicle, Michael
Wayne Mitchell, 31, was also arrested and charged with possession of meth with purpose to deliver, unauthorized use and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was released March 4 on a $100,000 bond and pleaded not guilty on July 13. He is set to stand trial on the charges in circuit court on May 13, 2021.
Marshall was previously convicted of felony second-degree forgery and possession with purpose to deliver meth on July 21, 2017, in Sharp County and sentenced to four years in prison, but was later paroled.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 26, shortly after 2 a.m., Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Cynthia Howerton made a traffic stop on a 2019 Ford U-Haul pickup in the 3000 block of Central because its lights were off.
She made contact with the driver, identified as Mitchell, 30, and the passenger, identified as Marshall, 23, and noted both were “acting very nervous and fidgety.”
Mitchell produced his license, which came back clear, but he had no paperwork on the U-Haul. Marshall stated someone else was the authorized user and she would get her to send the paperwork to her on her phone. A com
puter check showed Marshall had warrants for absconding, failure to pay and failure to appear and was a parolee with a search waiver on file.
Marshall was searched and Howerton found a loaded .380- caliber handgun in a holster on her belt. The gun was determined to have been reported stolen on Sept. 11, 2019, in the city. The officer also found a glass pipe with meth residue and digital scales in her jacket pocket.
Mitchell was also asked to get out and he reportedly asked for his cellphone and wasn’t sure where it was. Asked if he had it on his person, he said he didn’t know and Officer Anthony Larkin patted him down and felt a rectangular object “consistent with a phone” in his pocket. He pulled it out and discovered it was a digital scale with meth residue.
A handbag found between the seats reportedly contained four baggies of what later tested positive for meth, 31 grams. Both Marshall and Mitchell were taken into custody and once at the jail, deputies located $516 hidden in Marshall’s bra.