Jackson man given 15 years in meth lab case

A Jackson man was sentenced Monday to a total of 15 years in prison in connection with a series of drug charges spanning three years.

Thomas Hamilton, 46, pleaded guilty last month to one count each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of anhydrous ammonia in an unapproved container in connection with a June 7 methamphetamine case.

At the time of his arrest, Hamilton already was on supervised probation for a pair of earlier drug charges.

In February, he pleaded guilty to a 2011 drug possession charge and a 2012 drug distribution charge, for which he was sentenced to seven and 10 years, respectively, with the sentences to run concurrently.

At the time, Judge William Syler suspended execution of the two sentences and placed Hamilton on five years of supervised probation.

Less than four months later, police were investigating a report of an apparently unrelated shooting at a house Hamilton owned at 1467 Kingsway Drive in Cape Girardeau when they found evidence of a methamphetamine lab in the garage and arrested Hamilton and two other family members on drug charges.

On Monday, Syler revoked Hamilton's probation on the earlier charges and sentenced him to five years in prison for the new controlled substance charge and four years for the anhydrous ammonia charge.

The new sentences will run concurrently with each other but consecutively to the sentence for the earlier charges.

Syler rejected a request from Hamilton's attorney, Stephen Wilson, to recommend Hamilton for a long-term drug treatment program while he is in prison.

"If they want to put him in the program, they can put him in the program," Syler said.

epriddy@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

1467 Kingsway Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.