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Last updated on Monday, December 1, 2014
(BEDFORD) - 37-year-old James Walls was sentenced to prison after police say Walls dealt more than six pounds of meth over the course of three months.
During Walls arrest in February, officers found 18.5 grams of meth, 124 grams of marijuana, scales, a jamming device, security cameras, monitors, about 10 guns and about $7,000 in cash in Walls home on J Street.
Judge William Sleva sentenced Walls to 14 years at the Indiana Department of Corrections with two years suspended for dealing meth. Sleva also recommended that Walls be a part of the therapeutic community that helps drug addicts. Walls received credit for 25 days already served.
The following charges were dismissed in a plea deal with the state: possession of meth, Class D felony; possession of marijuana, Class A misdemeanor; possession of meth, Class C felony; possession of marijuana, Class D felony; dealing marijuana, Class D felony; two charges of maintaining a common nuisance, Class D felonies; dealing marijuana, Class A misdemeanor; and two charges of neglect of a dependent, Class D felonies.
Defense attorney Carl Slazmann of Bloomington, told Judge Sleva that Wells did not have a criminal history other than a dismissed case from 1997 and that Walls would benefit from Community Corrections and should serve a six year sentence on house arrest. He also told the judge that Walls had made a deal with a Bloomington police detective who told Walls that he and his fiancee, Casey Hill, would not be arrested if they cooperated with police. The detective testified at an earlier date that the two had cooperated, and it was his understanding they would not be arrested.
But prosecuting attorney Jody Donaldson disagreed saying that Walls accepted a plea agreement and if Walls didn't like that agreement his attorney should have filed a motion to dismiss. That was not done.
The deal was Walls was not being convicted of an A felony, and Donaldson capped the executed portion of the B felony sentence at 15 years. He recommended Walls should receive a sentence of 18 years with 15 executed and the other three years suspended.
According to a probable cause affidavit on Feb. 2, Walls dealt meth and used meth and marijuana with his two children in the home. His daughter was in the next room. His fiancée, who was with him that night, was pregnant at the time.
During the sentencing Judge Sleva said the state had the legal right to continue with the case even though a detective made a deal with Walls. He added that he doesn't make the law, but has taken an oath to follow it, but he also would not sentence Walls to the maximum term but couldn't sentence him to house arrest because of the seriousness of the crime.
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