BAY MINETTE MAN GETS 30 YEARS FOR $20 MARIJUANA SALE

A Bay Minette man was ordered Thursday to serve 30 years in prison
under the state's habitual offender act for selling $20 worth of marijuana.

Olander Barnes, 45, was convicted in April of unlawful distribution of
a controlled substance for selling the drug to a police informant
outside a Bay Minette car wash.

Barnes had a long history of dealing drugs, which stemmed as far back
as the 1970s, said Assistant Baldwin County District Attorney David
Horton.

"It's a good day for the citizens of Baldwin County because we take an
individual who's known for selling drugs off the street and put him
away for a long time," Horton said.

Because he had three prior felonies, Barnes qualified as a habitual
offender and faced between 20 years and life in prison, Horton said.

"This is a guy who's had contact with law enforcement for (more than)
20 years," Horton said.

In the 1970s, Barnes had at least three drug convictions, the
prosecutor said. He also had been convicted of a 1995 charge of
breaking and entering a vehicle, another charge that same year of
felony drug possession and a 1997 charge of unlawful distribution of a
controlled substance, according to Horton.

Alabama's habitual offender act was passed in 1980.

Between 1995 and 1999, Barnes faced almost a dozen other misdemeanor
charges, including harassment, driving under the influence of alcohol,
possession of drug paraphernalia and public intoxication, according to
court records.

Horton said Barnes sold about a half-ounce of marijuana for $20 to an
undercover agent outside Snappy car wash on D'Olive Street in Bay
Minette in November 2004.

In April, a jury found that Barnes had sold the drug within three
miles of a school and within three miles of a housing project.

Before sentencing Barnes, Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge Lang
Floyd said he considered the proximity to the school and the housing
project. And because of that, Floyd tacked on 10 years to a 20 year
sentence.

"I'm bound by law to consider your felony record, and that sets it for
me," Floyd said.

But Barnes' attorney, J. Clark Stankoski, said that his client hadn't
been involved with drugs in several years.

The day of his arrest in November 2004, Stankoski said, Barnes had
been lured into the drug deal by the informant, who awoke Barnes in
the middle of the night, asking for marijuana.

"It seems like 30 years in this case was just grossly excessive, and
that's not what the legislators intended," Stankoski said outside court.