2008 Woodie Awards
Leverson pleads on marijuana charges
Nathan Becker
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: News
Alumnus Jerard Leverson pleaded guilty Monday morning to possession and distribution of marijuana.
The charge was reduced from the original class A felony of distribution of a controlled substance near a school, according to court documents. Leverson pleaded guilty in the Adair County Courthouse to distribution, delivery, manufacture or possession with the intent to distribute, deliver, manufacture or produce a controlled substance.
Range of punishment for the offenses is five to 15 years in prison, said Adair County Prosecutor Mark Williams, who served as the prosecution in the case.
Leverson will be sentenced at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 7, according to court documents. Williams said he will make the recommendation of a 10-year sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections but that he will ask the judge to place Leverson in a 120-day controlled substance treatment program.
"If he successfully completes it, he could get out in four months on probation but still have a 10-year sentence hanging over his head," Williams said. "If he fails while he's there, then he has to serve his 10-year sentence."
Leverson originally was arrested in October 2006 for the crime, which was committed in June at a Main Street parking lot across from a barber shop. The location was within 2,000 feet of A.T. Still University of Health Sciences property, according to the original Adair County Grand Jury indictment.
Williams said Leverson sold one ounce of marijuana to a confidential informant who worked in association with the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force.
"The confidential informant knew Jerard," Williams said. "Basically, the confidential informant knew he could get marijuana from Jerard."
The Grand Jury indictment was issued in October 2006, and Missouri Highway Patrol officers arrested Leverson on Oct. 17, 2006.
Williams said the charge was reduced from class A to class B because the law requires a prosecutor to prove that the offender knew he or she was on or near a university or school campus.
The charge was reduced from the original class A felony of distribution of a controlled substance near a school, according to court documents. Leverson pleaded guilty in the Adair County Courthouse to distribution, delivery, manufacture or possession with the intent to distribute, deliver, manufacture or produce a controlled substance.
Range of punishment for the offenses is five to 15 years in prison, said Adair County Prosecutor Mark Williams, who served as the prosecution in the case.
Leverson will be sentenced at a hearing scheduled for Jan. 7, according to court documents. Williams said he will make the recommendation of a 10-year sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections but that he will ask the judge to place Leverson in a 120-day controlled substance treatment program.
"If he successfully completes it, he could get out in four months on probation but still have a 10-year sentence hanging over his head," Williams said. "If he fails while he's there, then he has to serve his 10-year sentence."
Leverson originally was arrested in October 2006 for the crime, which was committed in June at a Main Street parking lot across from a barber shop. The location was within 2,000 feet of A.T. Still University of Health Sciences property, according to the original Adair County Grand Jury indictment.
Williams said Leverson sold one ounce of marijuana to a confidential informant who worked in association with the Northeast Missouri Drug Task Force.
"The confidential informant knew Jerard," Williams said. "Basically, the confidential informant knew he could get marijuana from Jerard."
The Grand Jury indictment was issued in October 2006, and Missouri Highway Patrol officers arrested Leverson on Oct. 17, 2006.
Williams said the charge was reduced from class A to class B because the law requires a prosecutor to prove that the offender knew he or she was on or near a university or school campus.
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