Athens man sentenced to 14 years for cocaine

Marcquis Deevermont Utley
Marcquis Deevermont Utley

District Attorney’s Office press release

Marcquis Deevermont Utley, 34 of Athens was sentenced to 14 years and also to a month at the Medical Insurance Rehab to get clean before entering jail, the sentence was in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice after pleading guilty to the second degree felony offense of Possession of a Controlled Substance on July 9 in Judge Carter Tarrance’s 392nd Judicial District Court.

Utley was arrested on Feb. 4 of last year after Trinidad Police Officer Cody Speak attempted to pull Utley over for speeding on State Highway 31. Utley did not pull over at first and instead proceeded to a gas station.

Speak followed Utley to the gas station and attempted to make contact with him. Utley was uncooperative, and eventually a struggle ensued which resulted in Speak using his taser on Utley. After Utley was arrested and placed in handcuffsfor Resisting Arrest or Detention, Speak searched Utley’s vehicle.

Speak discovered a bag of marijuana, a glass smoking pipe, a straw with white residue, and what would later be confirmed by a crime lab was 6.23 grams of cocaine. Utley was indicted by a Henderson County Grand Jury for Possession of a Controlled Substance, and charged with the misdemeanor offenses of Resisting Arrest or Detention and Possession of Marijuana.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Cox prosecuted the case on behalf Scott McKee’s District Attorney’s Office. McKee indicated his office as well as the entire Henderson County law enforcement community has made great strides over the past 5 years in the apprehension and successful prosecution of drug offenders.

“Even though our efforts have been successful in rooting out these offenders, we can’t nor will we let up,” he said.