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.