Hart man gets 6-20 years in prison for meth.

Michael Barrett with attorney Terry Shaw.

Hart man gets 6-20 years in prison for meth.

#OceanaCountyCrime

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

HART – A 31-year-old Hart man was sentenced to six to 20 years in prison Monday, June 17, in 27th Circuit Court for a conviction of delivery/manufacture of methamphetamine.

Michael August Barrett, of 301 S. State St., pleaded guilty, April 22.

“Mr. Barrett is classical junkie,” said his attorney Terry Shaw, stating that his client is not a “classical seller.” Shaw said Barrett has racked up nine felony and 16 misdemeanor convictions in his lifetime.

“Six years you’re going to send me to prison,” Barrett said to Judge Robert D. Springstead. “I did sell drugs, but I don’t seek to profit – I sell to use. It’s a bad cycle. I don’t sell drugs to profit off them.”

“Six years is a long time,” the judge said. “You can either make the best of it or you can make the worst of it. You say there is no help, but there are programs that can help you.

“I would be more than happy to send you to prison for a very, very long time if you come back,” Springstead warned him.

Barrett testified that last February he sold five grams of meth for $450 to an undercover narcotics officer at a gas station in the City of Hart. When asked by Springstead where he got the meth, Barrett answered, “I got it from a supplier out of Muskegon.”

Sentencing guidelines in the case are 72-120 months.

Because Barrett was on parole at the time he committed the offense, he did not get any jail credit for his time served.

According to the Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS), the following are his felony convictions and sentencings in Michigan: operating/maintaining a meth lab, May 24, 2016, Newaygo County, one and a half to 20 years; attempted unarmed robbery, Nov. 19, 2009, Montcalm County, two to five years; unlawful use of a vehicle, Aug. 29, 2005, Newaygo County, two years; second-degree fleeing and eluding police, July 8, 2008, Newaygo County, two years; and possession of narcotic or cocaine less then 25 grams, Dec. 15, 2015, Kent County, two years and six months.

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