DECATUR - Jaylon L. Dennis, 21, of Decatur was sentenced to two years in prison on his guilty plea to unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

Associate Judge Timothy Steadman, who handed down the sentence, said it was "a highly unusual situation" he found himself in as he contemplated Dennis' sentence.

By law, he had to consider probation, but placing Dennis on probation would not make a lot of sense because Dennis would remain incarcerated in the Macon County Jail awaiting trial on other charges, which were severed from the drug charges in his case, he said.

"Probation could be a more severe sentence than two years in the department of corrections," Steadman said. "He already has done 300 days (in jail), and with the 90 days good time the state awards and the day-for-day good time he would have served his sentence."

Despite that calculation, Steadman said he would follow the recommendation by Assistant State's Attorney Brian Shaw and handed down the two-year prison term plus one year of parole. He said Dennis also must pay a $189 street value fine for the marijuana found by police, a $100 crime laboratory fee for analyzing the drug and a mandatory $500 assessment. However, the cost of the assessment was offset totally by a credit of $5 for each day Dennis had been jailed since his arrest Aug. 4.

Shaw said he asked for the two-year sentence because of Dennis' offense record as a juvenile and a prior adult conviction for aggravated battery. He said the only time Dennis appears not to have been in trouble in recent years was when he was incarcerated by the state.

Seven charges were filed against Dennis on Aug. 11, all stemming from an investigation police conducted into the Aug. 3 shooting of Adrian Hopson, then 21, at 10:10 p.m. Aug. 3 during a fight on the parking lot of the former JB's Liquor Store, 1120 E. Wood St. The store has since closed.

The seven charges were severed into three groups by agreement between prosecutors and the defense: those related directly to the shooting, the marijuana charges stemming from drugs found in Dennis' residence when a search warrant was executed there and a charge of aggravated criminal sexual abuse based on the assertion of a then 14-year-old girl that Dennis had intercourse with her and had gotten her pregnant.

A trial date has not been set on any of the remaining charges.

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