Two jailed after failing drug tests
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The defendants, Melinda Ross and Bryan Pease, were ordered to jail by Stanley recently, where they will remain until April 9 when they are sentenced on meth charges. They had earlier entered guilty pleas to charges of meth manufacture and were set to be released on bond pending their April 9 sentencings.
However, before allowing them to leave the courtroom, Stanley ordered probation officers to conduct field drug tests on the two to see if they had any illegal substances in their systems.
A short time later, probation officers emerged to announce the suspects had failed the drug tests. The announcement prompted Stanley to deny both bonds.
“You’d hope people would learn their lessons, being up here in court and facing jail time,” Stanley said. “But, I’ve found 90 percent of them test positive again even after all of this.”
Ross, who sat in the court gallery with her parents, fought back tears when she learned she would be taken to jail after the test detected traces of meth and marijuana in her system. Her attorney, Aubrey Harper, expressed disappointment in the outcome.
“I had hoped she could do better than this,” Harper said. “But, this is the harsh reality.”
Stanley noted defendants who ask the court to accept plea agreements in their drug cases need to be willing to take a step in cleaning up their lives. The field testing, Stanley said, will be used in the future in such cases to see if defendants are re-offending while on bond.
“It never fails to amaze me when people come up here and ask for a break, but yet they can’t stay off the drugs long enough to come to court,” Stanley said.
Stanley said he is not buying the popular excuses offered by some that tests showed the presence of meth because they had taken medications with ephedrine. Stanley said tests have shown using over-the-counter or prescription drugs with ephedrine do not show up positive for meth on drug tests.