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.
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