OFFICER'S SON PLEADS GUILTY IN POT BUST

Probation Revoked, Man To Serve 24 To 30 Months

With his father at his side, the son of a veteran Columbus police officer
pleaded guilty Monday to possession with intent to distribute more than 10
pounds of marijuana while on probation for a prior marijuana sale.

DaLionel Lightning, 23, of 2844 Viking Drive, was wanted for probation
violation when Metro Narcotics Task Force agents began watching the
residence he shared with a girlfriend, Assistant District Attorney Al
Whitaker told Muscogee Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan. After seeing
numerous people enter and leave the place, agents with the arrest warrant
entered and found a large plastic bag of marijuana on the sofa, he said.

A further search of the residence uncovered 11 one-gallon plastic bags of
marijuana totaling more than 10 pounds, plus $3,524 in cash, Whitaker said.

Lightning told police he got the marijuana from a man in Atlanta and was
selling it to make money before he was arrested for violating his
probation, the prosecutor said.

Lightning, a 1998 Kendrick High School graduate, was sentenced to four
years on probation on Dec. 27, 2001, for sale of marijuana. He was ordered
to serve a stint in boot camp and was granted first-offender treatment,
which would have allowed his record to be cleared upon completion of probation.

Defense attorney Mark Shelnutt noted that Lightning was entering a "cold
plea" with no plea bargain recommendation, but asked Jordan for a sentence
of no more than two or three years behind bars. Lightning already has been
jailed for five months awaiting his day in court, he said.

Jordan sentenced Lightning to 10 years on probation, but required him to
serve from 24 to 30 months behind bars in the Western Detention Center in
Butler, where he must complete a drug-rehabilitation program as part of his
sentence. The judge also adjudicated him guilty of the 2001 offense and
revoked 24-30 months of the probation remaining on that sentence.

"This is your opportunity to make something of yourself," he told Lightning
as his uniformed father stood silently beside him. "This is your second
chance -- and it is going to be your last chance."

Lightning's girlfriend, Michelle R. McLester, 20, of 1269 Briarwood Ave.,
pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and was sentenced to two years on
probation and 200 hours of community service. Defense attorney Mike
Reynolds said McLester, who sometimes stayed at the apartment with
Lightning, was entering a "best interest" plea without admitting she
possessed the marijuana.