CEDAR CITY — A driver who was pulled over for a brake light violation seven months ago has been sentenced to three years’ probation for drug possession.
Joshua Leo Marlow, 20, was sentenced via videoconference in 5th District Court on Monday afternoon by Judge Matthew L. Bell.
As previously reported in St. George News / Cedar City News, the car Marlow was driving was pulled over by a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in Cedar City on April 19. A subsequent search of the vehicle yielded approximately 1,000 fentanyl pills that were found in a bag inside the car’s center console.
During Monday’s hearing, Bell referred to Marlow’s recently adjudicated cases in Utah County, which involved misdemeanor drug and traffic offenses, including DUI.
“I’m not going to order this case to run concurrent to your Utah County cases,” Bell said during Monday’s hearing. “We’ll just have the terms mirror.”
“I’m not going to just let our cases be governed by whatever Utah County does,” Bell added. “If you’re not successful, I’m going to keep all the options on the table for me in the Iron County case. What I hope is, you’ll complete treatment, you’ll graduate from drug court and we can see you successfully resolve all your cases.”
Marlow told the court that his drug treatment program has been going well thus far.
“Thank you, honestly, for this opportunity,” Marlow said as he addressed the judge. “I’m doing really good and I’m trying to make everybody proud.”
Bell then responded by saying, “We’ll be very proud of you, Mr. Marlow, if you will stay clean and sober. It’s going to be a battle. It’s probably a lifelong thing.”
“Put yourself always in circumstances and around people that will make it easier to stay in recovery,” Bell added. “It’s never going to be easy. Just don’t put yourself in a position or associate with people that will make it even more difficult. That, in my experience, has been the downfall of so many people. If you’re in a good place, let’s stay there and keep your guard up so that you can succeed. We wish you all the best there.”
During Monday’s hearing, Marlow pleaded guilty to a single count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony. In exchange for that plea, three other misdemeanor counts against Marlow were dismissed, along with the traffic infraction involving the improper brake lights.
Bell suspended or stayed the maximum penalties associated with the second-degree felony count, including a 1-15 year prison sentence. Instead, Marlow was placed on probation for 36 months, to be supervised by Utah Adult Probation and Parole.
In addition to the standard probation terms of obeying all laws and committing no further violations, Marlow was also ordered to participate in and successfully complete Utah County’s drug court program and to pay a $1,000 fine plus a court security fee of $53.
“And, as noted, if you’re successful in completing all of these terms, you can apply for and the state would stipulate to recommending a one-step 402 reduction with respect to this case,” Bell said, referring to section 76-3-402 of Utah Code, which allows for a reduction in the degree of criminal convictions if certain requirements are met.
Although Marlow was given probation rather than prison time, such was not the case for the passenger who was riding in the back seat of his car at the time of their arrest.
Juan Daniel Valencia, 29, was sentenced in July after pleading guilty to one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony. As previously reported, Bell declined to give Valencia another chance at probation and sentenced him to 1-15 years in prison instead.
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