13-year prison sentence handed down

A 51-year-old woman, co-defendant in an Oconee drug case investigation, received a 13-year prison sentence today in the General Sessions Court at Walhalla.  Tamatha Franklin Collins pleaded guilty to trafficking in methamphetamine.  Collins was arrested in 2019.  Assistant Solicitor Beth Blundy said Collins, a motorist, was discovered in the possession of 106 grams of methamphetamine in the middle of the night in the company of a motorcyclist.  According to Blundy, both vehicles faced the wrong direction and that stirred the interest of a law enforcement officer.  Defense attorney Brann Fowler and Collins’ mother, Patsy Cannon, appealed to Judge McIntosh for a minimum sentence, with Fowler saying in her 51 years’ life, his client had only one previous criminal conviction.  He insisted Collins is not a career criminal.  She will be credited with 327 days spent in jail awaiting her court appearance today.