TERRICA HENDRIX
Editor
NASHVILLE – Shortly after his arraignment, Joseph Sauls III entered a guilty plea to drug possession and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Sauls III, 34, of Nashville, appeared in Howard County Circuit Court before Judge Tom Cooper on Jan. 13 for an arraignment for a parole violation, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver (marijuana).
Sauls III entered a guilty plea to the charges and was sentenced to 20 years (with four years suspended) in the Arkansas Department of Correction.
He was ordered to pay court costs, drug assessment fees and given credit for jail time served. His second charge was nolle prossed.
Sauls III and his father, Joseph Sauls Jr., were arrested after a traffic stop on Jan. 3 for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) with purpose to deliver.
Howard County Deputy Travis Turner found approximately 62 pounds of suspected marijuana inside Sauls’ car – along with $8,250 in cash, according to Howard County Sheriff Bryan McJunkins.
Joseph Sauls Jr., 58, of Leavenworth, Ka., entered a not guilty plea to possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance with purpose to deliver (marijuana). The judge ordered Sauls Jr. to return to court on March 16 for pretrial and on March 22 for trial. His $100,000 bond was reduced to $75,000.