A number of prison sentences were handed down during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Johnny Howard Gordey of Midway was sentenced to 18 years in prison with six suspended and 12 to serve. Gordey pled guilty to selling methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement on May 20, 2015.
In the probable cause affidavit, investigators wrote they met with the informant who called the 47-year-old Gordey on a cell phone and arranged the drug buy. The informant met Gordey at his residence in Midway where Gordey sold the informant methamphetamine, according to the affidavit.
In court Thursday, Gordey appeared to have some problem understanding the plea arrangement, but was contradicted by a representative from the Benca law firm in Little Rock who represents Gordey. She told the court the plea arrangement had been thoroughly explained to Gordey.
Barry Fowler of Mountain Home was given six years in prison on drug-related charges. The 51-year-old Fowler was stopped in late April last year by an Arkansas State Trooper. When it was discovered that Fowler had an active warrant from Marion County, the trooper arrested him. A search of Fowler and his vehicle turned up drugs and drug paraphernalia.
Ryan Amyx of Midway was found guilty of violating his probation in a Baxter County drug case by possessing a weapon which is illegal for a felon. The new weapons-related charges in Marion County triggered the revocation in this county.
During the revocation hearing, Amyx testified that he had the shotgun because he worked on a turkey farm and used the weapon to kill sick birds because he felt that it was more humane than bashing them in the head with a PVC pipe.
When he was first arrested, he told Marion County lawmen a different story — saying he had the gun to protect his family.
The court ruled that, since Amyx was a felon, possessing a firearm — whether to bash turkeys to death or protect his family — was a violation of his probation.
Jeremy Walters of Midway was given three years in prison and 30 days in the Baxter County jail after changing his plea to guilty on charges related to his possession of a stolen four-wheeler which had been taken from a residence along Hummingbird Lane.
The 42-year-old Walters claimed he had purchased the four-wheeler, but declined to reveal the name of the seller, saying it would cause trouble for his family.
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