Defendant tells judge: “I messed up”

A 36-year old woman in the Oconee General Sessions Court was sentenced to 55 months in prison this morning after she pleaded guilty to five drug offenses. Four of the cases against Anna Lara Stinnett took place in Oconee County; the fifth case was an offense in Anderson County. Stinnett told Judge McIntosh: “I’m not a perfect human being…I messed up,” as she explained how it came to be that she trafficked methamphetamine and illegally possessed controlled substances, including oxycodone. Stinnett was arrested in Oconee County after she was found asleep at the wheel of a car that had turned onto the property of an Oconee County man, who called authorities. Stinnett’s guilty plea amounted to a change of mind, as the defendant had elected yesterday to allow a jury to determine her fate. That jury was seated yesterday and had reported to the courtroom this morning ready to hear evidence. A condition of Stinnett’s sentence will allow her credit for 364 days in jail awaiting trial and on an electric monitor.