It took a Miller County jury less than 30 minutes Wednesday to convict a Delaware man in the attempted smuggling of roughly 50 pounds of marijuana from Austin back to his home state.
Robert Hoey, 36, was sentenced to eight years in an Arkansas prison and assessed a $2,500 fine by a jury of seven men and five women Wednesday afternoon at the Miller County courthouse in downtown Texarkana. Hoey and co-defendant Harry Taylor, 35, flew from Deleware to Austin on one-way tickets which cost about $125 apiece Feb. 14, 2013. Hoey rented a red Chevrolet Impala for more than $300 in which the two men were traveling when they were pulled over by Arkansas State Police Trooper Bernard Pettit on Interstate 30 in Miller County the following day.
Pettit testified he became suspicious when the men acted overly nervous and avoided eye contact. Air fresheners in the rental car, multiple cell phones and numerous fast food wrappers coupled with differing reasons given by the men for their trip increased his feeling something was amiss, Pettit testified.
Hoey told Pettit he had gone to Austin to visit a girl who thought she might be pregnant with his child and that he had spent the night at a hotel. Taylor told Pettit he had come to Austin to visit a great aunt, whose name he could not recall, and had spent the night with her.
When questioned Tuesday by Prosecuting Attorney Stephanie Black, Taylor admitted he traveled to Austin once or twice monthly to buy marijuana which he would then transport back to Delaware to sell. Taylor claimed Hoey had been to Austin only once, leaving the jury to wonder how the girl in Austin could be possibly pregnant by Hoey.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jeffery Sams argued in closing remarks that Taylor's claim for Hoey's innocence was incredulous.
"They are family, they are cousins, they lived together then and they still live together. Why didn't he say to Trooper Pettit when they were on the side of the road, 'Hey, this is my cousin, he knows nothing about it,'" Sams said. "The simple answer, ladies and gentlemen, is that he did know, he did know."
Arkansas State Police Special Agent Corwin Battle testified he downloaded text messages from Hoey's phone which referenced marijuana by street slang including: Luke Skywalker, popcorn, Reggie and blue dream. Battle also found searches for banks with branches in both Austin and Delaware, searches for the amount of money one could deposit before getting the attention of the IRS and a search for freezing marijuana.
Black argued that each piece of the state's evidence, when taken as a whole, demonstrate Hoey's guilt.
"Why would you drive back when it was cheaper to fly? Because he knew he was hauling drugs back," Black argued.
Hoey, who did not testify during the guilt or innocence phase of his trial, did try to explain his decision to rent a car and drive back to Delaware during the punishment phase. Hoey claimed he rented the car in Austin because he wanted to take his girlfriend to the doctor and that he planned to fly home until Taylor asked him to drive the car back to Delaware because the flight to Austin made him queasy. Black asked Hoey why he only bought one-way tickets for himself and Taylor and why he paid for unlimited miles on the car and paid a fee to return it at a different location than the one from which he rented if just wanted something to drive for two days in the Austin city limits.
Hoey's lawyer, Jasmine Crockett, who has offices in Dallas and Texarkana, argued that the state's evidence wasn't enough to prove Hoey's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Crockett argued in pretrial hearings that the men were stopped without sufficient probable cause and that Pettit detained them on the side of the road for far too long after giving Taylor a warning for tailgating.
"I am beyond grateful for the service of the jurors," Crockett said. "This case will continue to the Supreme Court, at this juncture, for them to decide some critical constitutional issues."
Sams said Hoey's conviction helps address a chronic problem in American society.
"Drug use adversely affects millions of people throughout the United States. Drug traffickers, such as the defendant in this case, are one reason such drugs are so readily available," Sams said. "We are happy with the jury's verdict and only hope it deters others from engaging in similar activity."
During the punishment phase of the trial, the jury learned Hoey has been arrested again and again for drug-related offenses in Delaware, but has never been convicted. Prosecutors are not permitted to discuss current parole procedures during closing arguments before a jury and Hoey's did not know he could be freed in as few as 18 days with the eight-year term they assessed Wednesday.
"After 20 previous arrests for drug trafficking-related charges and no convictions, I am very pleased the jury found him guilty and gave him eight years in the Arkansas Department of Correction. It was a long time coming," Black said. "It is unfortunate the jury could not know that the current policy for parole from ADC for first-time, non-violent offenders who have a sentence less than 15 years is parole after 120 days. Mr. Hoey has credit for 108. However, it is a conviction and that makes a difference."