Jury delivers split verdict

There was something in the verdict for both sides of the Oconee courtroom.  For the defendant, bottom line is that he’s headed to prison.  Early last night the General Sessions jury found Anousack Thanonglit of Riverdale, Georgia guilty of possession with intent to distribute marijuana and not guilty of trafficking in cocaine.  After hearing the prosecutor recite a lengthy record of crime, the judge pronounced a sentence of five years in prison and a $5,000 dollar fine.  At the request of the defense, Thanonglit will be credited with jail time served since September.  His arrest came in 2013 when a state trooper stopped a car for speeding on I-85.  Defense lawyer William Thompson asked Judge Lawton McIntosh to consider that his client was cooperative from the moment the state trooper stopped his car.  Assistant solicitor Beth Blundy said the defendant’s record, dating back to 2001, included burglary and car thefts, and he was charged with drug violations in Cherokee County while free on bond awaiting trial in Oconee County.