KINGMAN -A judge in Kingman has imposed a 1.5-year prison term for a Fort Mohave man convicted of drug offenses during trial last month. Ezequiel Lopez-Cabrera, 32, received lighter punishment primarily because of a key determination by the jury.
The panel chose not to find Lopez-Cabrera guilty of possession of dangerous drugs for sale, opting instead to convict him of the lesser included offense of possession of dangerous drugs. Defense attorney Nathan Best persuaded the jury that Lopez-Cabrera was a heavy user of methamphetamine and possession of 18 grams in one-gram baggies did not necessarily constitute sales activity.
Prosecutor Amanda Claerhout told Judge Billy Sipe that jurors said after the trial that they sympathized with the defendant and didn’t want to convict him of selling drugs. “The defendant was clearly selling,” Claerhout said during Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Best countered that jurors told him that they didn’t find Lopez-Cabrera guilty of sales activity because the state didn’t meet its burden of proof on that charge. The sales charge was the only issue Best contested at trial as he conceded his client’s guilt on the other counts.
Accordingly, the jury found Lopez-Cabrera guilty of possession of narcotic drugs (heroin), possession of marijuana and two possession of drug paraphernalia charges.
