A Hawkins man was sentenced to 18 months in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after being found guilty at the first jury trial in the 402nd District Court in 15 months.

Justin Charles Richard was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to 18 months in state prison. The sentence will run concurrently with an 8-year sentence he will be serving for driving while intoxicated in Smith County.

District Judge Brad McCampbell made the ruling at the conclusion of the trial held June 10. It was the first trial by jury in the district courtroom since the lifting of COVID restrictions in the past year.

Wood County District Attorney Angela Albers presented the state’s case against Richard. Albers was glad to be back in the courtroom. “It was a privilege to be back in person in court with the first jury post pandemic. It was an honor to work with the citizens of Wood County who showed up for jury service,” Albers said. “The jurors who were selected listened well and I believe they carried out justice in that trial. I think the sentence by Judge McCampbell was a just sentence.”

Richard had pled not guilty to the possession charge. On May 14, 2020, Wood County Deputy Jacqueline Skinner found Richard passed out in his car, which was running, in the parking lot of the Brookshire’s in Hawkins at 3 a.m. She found three glass pipes, two with methamphetamine residue and one with marijuana residue. 

The defendant sought a jury trial with sentencing done by the judge. McCampbell sited Richards’ past in which he had twice violated his probation. 

McCampbell noted Richard had not been violent and had cooperated with Deputy Skinner during the arrest, but considering his past violations of probation were cause for concern that it may happen again. He told Richard he hoped he would take advantage of programs offered by the state to help him with his addiction problems.