Drug Offender Jailed For Violating Supervised Release
Courtesy Smith County Sheriff
James Earl Mankins Jr.
By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer
James Earl Mankins Jr. remained in the Smith County Jail Friday after he admitted to violating his supervised release, received for federal drug convictions, by being arrested three times in the last year and failing a drug test.
Mankins, 54, of Kilgore, was sentenced by the late U.S. District Judge John H. Hannah Jr. on Feb. 24, 1997, to 10 years in federal prison, after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute methamphetamine. He was also ordered to serve eight years of supervised release after he got out of prison in April 2004.
Federal probation officers filed a petition to revoke Mankins’ supervised release and he was arrested on July 5. On Thursday, Mankins did not contest the revocation in U.S. Magistrate Judith Guthrie’s court in Tyler.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Middleton and defense attorney Darryl Bennett agreed on a sentencing recommendation of nine months in prison with no further supervised release, according to court documents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Schneider will sentence Mankins at an undetermined date.
Mankins violated his release the first time by being arrested for driving while intoxicated on March 11, 2006. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced to one year probation, which was revoked three months later and he received 150 days in jail.
Mankins also violated the terms by being arrested for evading arrest or detention in a vehicle, a felony. As law enforcement officials attempted to stop Mankins on his motorcycle for speeding on Dec. 13, 2006, Mankins allegedly accelerated to more than 100 mph and ran a stop sign. He stopped after being pursued for more than two miles.
On May 15, Mankins failed a drug test and admitted to using meth two days before, according to the petition.
He was arrested on June 1 for possessing drug paraphernalia after he was stopped by law enforcement on his motorcycle and officers discovered a digital scale containing suspected meth residue.
During his sentencing hearing 10 years ago, Mankins claimed he was prosecuted on federal drug charges because five state capital murder indictments were dismissed against him,
Mankins was indicted in April 1995 on five capital murder charges in connection with the abduction and murder of five people from the Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant in September 1983, but the charges were subsequently dropped due to a lack of evidence. All mention of the KFC case and the indictments were expunged from Mankins’ record.
Just a few months after he was released from the Rusk County Jail, a confidential informant began making drug buys from Mankins, according to information in the federal case.
Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield were indicted on capital murder charges in December 2005 for the KFC killings.
Staff Writer
James Earl Mankins Jr. remained in the Smith County Jail Friday after he admitted to violating his supervised release, received for federal drug convictions, by being arrested three times in the last year and failing a drug test.
Mankins, 54, of Kilgore, was sentenced by the late U.S. District Judge John H. Hannah Jr. on Feb. 24, 1997, to 10 years in federal prison, after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to possess and distribute methamphetamine. He was also ordered to serve eight years of supervised release after he got out of prison in April 2004.
Federal probation officers filed a petition to revoke Mankins’ supervised release and he was arrested on July 5. On Thursday, Mankins did not contest the revocation in U.S. Magistrate Judith Guthrie’s court in Tyler.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Middleton and defense attorney Darryl Bennett agreed on a sentencing recommendation of nine months in prison with no further supervised release, according to court documents.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Schneider will sentence Mankins at an undetermined date.
Mankins violated his release the first time by being arrested for driving while intoxicated on March 11, 2006. He pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor and was sentenced to one year probation, which was revoked three months later and he received 150 days in jail.
Mankins also violated the terms by being arrested for evading arrest or detention in a vehicle, a felony. As law enforcement officials attempted to stop Mankins on his motorcycle for speeding on Dec. 13, 2006, Mankins allegedly accelerated to more than 100 mph and ran a stop sign. He stopped after being pursued for more than two miles.
On May 15, Mankins failed a drug test and admitted to using meth two days before, according to the petition.
He was arrested on June 1 for possessing drug paraphernalia after he was stopped by law enforcement on his motorcycle and officers discovered a digital scale containing suspected meth residue.
During his sentencing hearing 10 years ago, Mankins claimed he was prosecuted on federal drug charges because five state capital murder indictments were dismissed against him,
Mankins was indicted in April 1995 on five capital murder charges in connection with the abduction and murder of five people from the Kilgore Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant in September 1983, but the charges were subsequently dropped due to a lack of evidence. All mention of the KFC case and the indictments were expunged from Mankins’ record.
Just a few months after he was released from the Rusk County Jail, a confidential informant began making drug buys from Mankins, according to information in the federal case.
Romeo Pinkerton and Darnell Hartsfield were indicted on capital murder charges in December 2005 for the KFC killings.
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