Dawson Enters Guilty Plea
In Wetzel County Circuit Court on Aug. 28, Claire Phillip Dawson Jr., 25, of RD 2, Box 181B, New Martinsville, pleaded guilty through a plea agreement to possession of a control substance (marijuana) with intent to deliver.
On March 9 Dawson was arrested for having a total of 270 grams of marijuana, marijuana seeds, $400 in cash, two pipes, two rolls of plastic baggies, and two scales at his residence.
A pre-sentencing report will be done by Probation Officer John Lantz and submitted before his sentencing date, Sept. 15 at 8:30 a.m.
In another case before Judge David W. Hummel Jr., Krista Dawn Dennis, 24, of 265 Virginia St., New Martinsville, was before Hummel from the West Virginia State Penitentiary for Women for a Rule 35 motion for a reduction in sentence.
Dennis was given a sentence of two to 10 years in 2007 for pleading guilty on July 11, 2008, to abuse of an elderly person, Katherine Muncie, her grandmother.
Her attorney, Kevin Neiswonger, stated to the courtroom she was a youthful offender at the time and also had been arrested in Ohio on a felony charge, but has not been sentenced yet in Ohio. According to the plea agreement, after serving one year in West Virginia, she was going to be released to serve time in Ohio for the charges against her there.
Prosecutor Tim Haught agreed that a plea was taken in front of Judge John Madden and he had spoken to officials in Ohio, where they want Dennis to serve time there for pending charges. He pointed out she has not be convicted yet in Ohio. “I don’t oppose the fact she goes back goes back to Ohio,” explained Haught. He stated the grandmother does not want to see her granddaughter do a two- to 10-year sentence just for slapping her in the face.
Hummel placed Dennis on supervised probation for one year, noting the state of Ohio has a detainer out on her and they have 10 days to come and “pick you up,” as Hummel explained to Dennis. She waived her right to extradition to the state of Ohio to faces charges there.
In another case before Judge Hummel, Douglas Fouts, 35, of 3106 Williamstown Pike, Williamstown, W.Va., was in the courtroom for a plea agreement.
Prosecutor Tim Haught stated this was a family situation in which Fouts took items from his mother’s home without permission and was apprehended with the items.
Hummel asked Fouts about the situation and Fouts replied, “I committed a crime of burglary, I entered her house without her permission.”
Hummel accepted the plea agreement to burglary and gave a sentence of one to 10 years that was suspended. Fouts was then placed on three years of supervised probation with random drug testing and will have to pay $250 restitution.