Man convicted of meth possession

Maurice J. Plank III cut his losses Monday, but not before he had turned a five-year prison sentence into nine years.

Plank, 36, was doing well in August when Deputy Prosecutor Shane Smith dismissed a charge that Plank helped cover up a murder by moving a car. Then Plank rejected Deputy Prosecutor David Stevens’ offer to settle four pending drug cases with a plea bargain calling for a five-year sentence.

Plank decided he wanted four separate jury trials on the drug charges, but changed his mind when a jury convicted him of possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver, drunken driving and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Stevens had warned that he would seek consecutive sentences if there were more jury convictions.

The deputy prosecutor backed off when Plank pleaded guilty to drug possession in two of the pending cases.

“I felt concurrent sentences were warranted when he started pleading guilty, just to save resources,” Stevens said.

He didn’t object to a two-hour, non-jury trial Monday morning in Plank’s fourth drug-possession case. Going to trial allowed Plank to preserve his right to file an unusual appeal.

The drugs in question Monday were seized during a traffic stop earlier this year under circumstances that ordinarily would have required a search warrant. The drugs were locked inside a small safe in Plank’s vehicle.

Instead of getting a search warrant, police called Plank’s state probation officer. The probation officer had broad powers over Plank because of a previous conviction, and used a key in Plank’s possession to open the safe.

Superior Court Judge Neal Rielly ruled there was no need for a warrant under those circumstances, and Judge Sam Cozza convicted Plank Monday.

Plank faced a standard range of five to 10 years for his earlier jury convictions, and Cozza gave him nine. All the other sentences were folded into that one.

Plank had been charged with rendering criminal assistance in a June 13 homicide in the Shadle Wal-Mart parking lot by helping move a car left there when Clifford Mark Meyers allegedly shot 22-year-old Elijah J. Bishop to death. The charge was dropped because of insufficient evidence that Plank knew the vehicle was involved in the alleged murder.

Meyers is awaiting trial.