Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 Source: Macon Telegraph (GA) Copyright: 2009 The Macon Telegraph Publishing Company Contact: http://www.macontelegraph.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/667 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) LIFE SENTENCE FOR MARIJUANA FARMER GAINESVILLE, Ga. -- A north Georgia man convicted of conspiracy to grow hundreds of marijuana plants in and around the Chattahoochee National Forest has been sentenced to life in prison. Federal prosecutors say 45-year-old Andrew N. Cox, formerly of Blairsville, had two prior drug trafficking convictions. Normally, the latest would yield a 10-year sentence, but U.S. District Judge William C. O'Kelley applied the life sentence Thursday for what U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias (NAH'-mee-as) called Cox's "third and final strike." Cox and three others were accused of cultivating marijuana in 2004, using a landscaping business as a front. The others pleaded guilty in 2004 and 2006. Cox was a fugitive for three years before being captured Feb. 13, 2008, in Casa Grande, Ariz. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin