Butler man convicted of dealing drugs
A jury found a 27-year-old Butler resident guilty of dealing drugs Tuesday after three hours of deliberation in a county courtroom.
Michael L. Jackson was convicted on 12 of 13 counts against him including felony delivery and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, criminal use of a communication facility and conspiracy to commit all of those same crimes, and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.
Jurors acquitted Jackson of one count of possession with intent to deliver fentanyl. That charge was added last week, just before the trial.
Police arrested Jackson on June 27, 2018, in a home raid led by the state Attorney General’s Bureau of Narcotics following a controlled drug buy.
“We’re pleased,” Assistant District Attorney Laura Pitchford said after the trial concluded. “Any time we can get a drug dealer off the streets is a victory.”
Pitchford called seven witnesses, most of whom are in law enforcement. Jackson himself decided not to testify.
The trial began Monday with Judge Timothy McCune presiding and concluded Tuesday around noon.
“It’s disappointing,” said Brian Farrington, Jackson’s defense lawyer. “We all made the points we intended to make. That’s really all you can do.”
In her prosecution, Pitchford used police photographs to take the jury of eight women and four men on a tour of the home, where the floor was scattered with ripped green bags and dusted with a white powder. She argued Jackson used the city home on South Sixth Avenue to sell various drugs, including heroin, crack and powder cocaine, fetanyl and OxyCodone.
One of the witnesses, who testified Monday, was a confidential informant who participated in the controlled drug buy preceding Jackson’s arrest.
Documents detailing a search of the home said two knotted plastic bags of what police said were heroin, 27 stamp bags of heroin, a knotted bag with 20 plastic bags of crack and 10 stamp bags of heroin were found. Police also seized more than 4,500 empty stamp bags.
According to authorities, officers also found $4,616 in cash, three digital scales, an electronic mixer and metal sifters and a cell phone, which was used to set up the deal with the informant.
Jackson will be sentenced at a later date.
