A repeat drug offender was sentenced in Logan County Common Pleas Court Thursday, April 6, to prison on drug-related charges and for violating terms of his probation.
Hunter Burris, 31, was sentenced to a total of three years in prison for possession of a fentanyl-related compound, a fifth-degree felony, and for violating his community control that included numerous charges of aggravated possession of drugs, fifth-degree felonies.
Burris was most recently indicted by a Logan County Grand Jury in September 2022, for possession of fentanyl and aggravated possession of drugs, but his interactions with law enforcement date back to 2020 when he was arrested for possession of drugs three times in a two-month period.
During one such incident, reported by officers of the Washington Township Police Department, Burris very nearly caused a head-on collision while driving impaired in the area of U.S. Route 33.
* Royce Smith, 20, of Marion, was sentenced to three years of community control, and ordered to pay fees and court costs for aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony.
As part of his probation, he is also not permitted to leave the state without permission of the court.
He was arrested in February 2022 by deputies of the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, which initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle Smith was driving for an equipment violation.
While speaking to the driver, Smith, deputies said he seemed overly nervous and they observed that he was shaking. He was asked to step out of the vehicle, and during a pat down search of his person, deputies recovered a glass smoking pipe with powdery residue and a clear baggies with a white powdery substance, which later field-tested positive for methamphetamine and fentanyl.
K9 Thor was then deployed for a probable cause search of the vehicle. The canine alerted on the vehicle, and deputies located a baggie with a green leafy substance and marijuana grinder inside the vehicle.
