Douglas repeat offender gets life sentence

A Douglas County man has been sentenced to life in prison as a repeat offender after a criminal history that spans more than four decades, authorities said.

Alphonso Stewart, 62, was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday by Superior Court Chief Judge Robert J. James. Stewart has five felony convictions, four of them related to cocaine — including two for distribution of cocaine, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade said in a statement. Stewart also was convicted in 1990 of assaulting a person with a wooden fence rail.

Stewart's latest conviction -- on a distribution of cocaine charge -- occurred moments before a jury was scheduled to hear closing arguments in his trial, McDade said. Stewart decided to plead guilty rather than wait on the jury’s verdict, he said.

Jurors heard evidence that Stewart provided crack cocaine to a confidential informant last March. The informant testified to buying crack from the defendant at an apartment complex off Forrest Avenue, authorities said.

The drug transaction was recorded on police surveillance equipment and played for the jury, authorities said.

“After the prosecution presented this unequivocal evidence of the defendant’s guilt and just prior to closing arguments, the defendant decided to plead guilty and be sentenced by the judge,” said McDade. “Based upon his extensive criminal history, Judge James imposed a life sentence, making it clear that this man’s lifetime of crime has to be stopped.”