By Bob Strohm
bstrohm@wbcowqel.com

Any day is a bad day when you are facing the judge for sentencing on a second-degree felony conviction. On Monday it was particularly bad for two defendants.

After pleading guilty to community control violations in which he was arrested for 10.34 grams of heroin along with a fourth-degree trafficking charge, Steven Marquis was sentenced to six years on the second-degree felony charge and 18 months on the fourth-degree felony charge concurrently. Marquis was also given two $7,500 fines, driver’s license suspension of three years, along with three years of post-release control.

The court also imposed that Marquis’ community control be revoked and the 24 months left on his original 36 month sentence for trafficking be served consecutively with his new sentence.

Things didn’t go much better for the sentencing of Dustin Javens. Javens, who was discovered with over 13 grams of heroin upon a search warrant, was sentenced to four years of prison Monday.

Javens’ lawyer Brad Starkey noted that Javens’ life changed when he was placed on prescription pills after a work accident. According to Starkey, Javens had found heroin as a relief for pain when insurance ran out on his medication.

Margie Maddox, who runs the Alpha 12 Step Recovery Program, spoke before the court on the progress Javens has made in the one year since entering the program.

“I feel that with being with Dustin he has a chance to come back and to help those in the program. The period of getting into a program while in prison is about two to three years. Dustin hasn’t missed one class, if he goes to prison we will lose everything he has gained in the last year,” Maddox said.

James Williams was ordered to serve out the remainder of his four-year sentence after violating community control.

Williams was found in possession of Tramadol in August and on September 24 he was found to have used marijuana. Between April and July, Williams also purchased bullets and discharged a firearm despite being on a weapons ban.

Chelsea Griffin was ordered to be placed into an in-patient treatment program after violating the terms of her community control.

On September 25, Griffin tested positive for opiates, failed to notify her community control officer of her residence, and violated her out-patient intervention.

Griffin will be held at Crawford County Justice Center until placed into a program.