When Smyrna police officers responded to a single-vehicle wreck last year, they initially thought they were just dealing with a drunken driver.
Then they found about half a pound of methamphetamine hidden under the driver’s seat.
That discovery will cost Timothy Deone Campbell, 24, of Marietta, the next 20 years of his freedom, the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. He was convicted Tuesday of trafficking meth and driving under the influence.
On Sept. 30, 2018, officers responded to the scene of the crash off Cobb Parkway about 2 a.m., the release said. Campbell had driven his 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer over a curb, crashing into a fence.
Officers noticed that Campbell had bloodshot eyes, was unsteady on his feet and was slurring his words, the release said. When he failed multiple field sobriety tests, he was arrested for DUI.
After he was taken into custody, about 210 grams (0.46 pounds) of meth were found under the driver’s seat during an inventory search, the release said.
A jury convicted him after a two-day trial. In addition to his 20-year prison sentence, Judge Steven Schuster ordered that Campbell pay a $300,000 fine.
Campbell, who had been free on bond while awaiting trial, was rearrested and booked into the Cobb County jail after the guilty verdict.
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