
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 7, 1990                   TAG: 9006070032
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

JURY FINDS IRONTO MAN INNOCENT OF INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE MARIJUANA

A jury decided this week that the 3 ounces of marijuana that investigators found in Tommy Lee Wheeler's trailer was for his personal use and he did not intend to sell it.

The Montgomery County Circuit jury convicted Wheeler Tuesday on possession of marijuana and set his sentence at 30 days in jail and a $500 fine. But the jury found Wheeler innocent of the charge a grand jury indicted him on in January - possession with intent to distribute, which carries a prison sentence of one to 10 years.

Wheeler, 32, was arrested last August after seven Montgomery County sheriff's deputies raided his trailer in Ironto.

Deputy Marshall Dowdy testified that when he burst into the trailer on a search warrant he saw Wheeler stuffing three bags of marijuana into a washing machine.

Investigators found a smaller fourth bag of marijuana and a "finger scale" used to weigh marijuana, Deputy K.J. Light testified.

Commonwealth's Attorney Phil Keith told the jury that the finger scale and three prepackaged 1-ounce bags, valued at about $500, were sure signs that Wheeler had planned to sell the marijuana.

Wheeler's possession of the scale, Keith said, "indicates that he was the one dividing it up."

But Wheeler's attorney, Joe Painter of Blacksburg, said Wheeler was a "heavy user, not a drug dealer." Painter said Wheeler used the scale to weigh marijuana he had bought from other people.

Painter also asked Dowdy, an undercover drug agent for five months last year, whether it would be unusual for a heavy marijuana user to smoke an ounce a week. Dowdy said no.

Painter said there was no proof that Wheeler tried to sell any of the marijuana and that the possession with intent charge was based on "circumstantial evidence."

by CNB