John Charles Latty, 31 of Centre, pleaded guilty last week to charges connected to the manufacture of methamphetamine.

The charges stemmed from a raid on Latty’s home on Jan. 8, 2006, in which Latty was caught in possession of a meth lab with finished methamphetamine, according to District Attorney Mike O'Dell.

Latty was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with that sentence split to serve five years. Latty will serve five calendar years in prison and pay a $5,000 fine, court costs, a demand reduction assessment and a forensic assessment.

By entering the plea, Latty avoided a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. At the time of his arrest, Latty was a habitual offender with three prior felony convictions.

O’Dell said, “This was the rare case where the law actually called for too harsh a sentence. Ordinarily, I’m the first one to stand up and insist that we put serious offenders away for as long as we can, but Mr. Latty is a young man with children, he had taken some strides to reform himself between the time of his arrest and the time of his plea, and while this case was serious, no one was physically injured and therefore life without the possibility of parole would simply have been unjust.”

O’Dell said he thought the Latty's sentence was "sufficient accountability for his actions. It will be enough to send a strong message to those who would expose our community to meth labs: If we catch you cooking meth in Cherokee County, you will be held accountable.”

After serving the five years in prison, Latty will be on probation for five years. If he violates the terms of his probation, he will be subject to having the remainder of his twenty-year sentence ordered into effect.

The officers who investigated this case were Cherokee Narcotics Unit Commander Charles “Chas” Clifton and Deputy Scott McGinnis, both of whom work under Sheriff Jeff Shaver. Also assisting in the case were Chief Lanny Ransum of the Leesburg Police Department, Mark Hopwood of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, and Narcotics Unit Agents Chris O’Neal and Gene Knowles.

Deputy D.A. Scott Lloyd was the lead prosecutor in the case