A convicted felon will spend 25 years in prison for trafficking drugs in Madison County while possessing a stolen gun.
District Attorney Bubba Bramlett reports that 32-year-old Damarius Rashon Graham, a repeat offender, has been sentenced for multiple offenses.
On September 30, 2022, an officer with the Madison Police Department made a traffic stop on a vehicle for driving northbound on I-55. While explaining the traffic violation to the female driver, the officer smelled the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
Police also noticed that Graham, who was in the front passenger seat, was sitting on top of a firearm. Officers asked both individuals to exit the vehicle. Graham stated he was cold, and requested the officer retrieve his jacket from the front passenger seat.
Authorities located a bag containing marijuana inside the jacket. Upon further inspection of the car, officers found a purple Crown Royal bag in the backseat that contained a large amount of what appeared to be cocaine. Police took custody of the firearm and discovered that it had been reported stolen out of Starkville. They also later learned that Graham had been twice convicted of felony offenses.
The suspected drugs were sent to the Mississippi Crime Laboratory. After a forensic evaluation and testing, the substance was confirmed to be cocaine and weighed over 200 grams, leading to the indictment for aggravated trafficking in controlled substances. On Tuesday, Graham pled guilty to one count of trafficking in cocaine and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
“This individual had been twice convicted of felony crimes and yet he did not learn his lesson those first two times. He was sitting on top of a stolen firearm while knowing it was against the law for him to be in possession of one,” Bramlett stated. “He was also knowingly transporting over two hundred grams of cocaine which we can only infer he intended to sell. We are thankful for the officers from the Madison Police Department; their actions kept over 200 grams of cocaine from entering the streets of Mississippi.”
Graham was sentenced to 25 years with 10 suspended for the drug charge and 10 years for the possession of a firearm by a felon charge. The court ordered that the sentences were to be served concurrently with another. The time will be served day after day without the possibility of early release or parole.
