MADISON - A town of Washington man's friends and family burst out in tears and smiles after learning that Kelvin W. Johnson wouldn't be going to prison for growing nearly 250 marijuana plants last summer.
District Judge Barbara Crabb rejected a prosecutor's recommendation that Johnson, 53, serve between 12 and 18 months in prison after being caught on surveillance camera tending a marijuana plot nestled in a cornfield along County C.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea asked Crabb not to believe Johnson's claim that he worked the large pot patch with Steven G. Nelson for just a small cut of the action.
"It's implausible that he would have carried water to these plants during one of the hottest, driest summers on record for a few plants," O'Shea said.
Nelson, who is to be sentenced next month, has said he was to split the plants "50-50" with Johnson, which would have yielded 100 pounds or more of marijuana, according to O'Shea.
After getting an anonymous tip, a law enforcement officer with the Green County Sheriff's Department and the State Line Area Narcotics Team, discovered 145 plants in a well-tended marijuana plot last June, said O'Shea.
Authorities set up a surveillance camera which later recorded Johnson and Nelson working the plot, said O'Shea.
During a subsequent search of Johnson's County C residence, located next door to the Washington Town Hall, authorities discovered additional seedlings growing in the basement. That allowed the government to seek forfeiture of the property which Johnson satisfied by paying $25,000.
Johnson sold his motorcycle, emptied his bank accounts and borrowed from friends and family to do so, said his attorney William Ginsberg of Madison.
Ginsberg told Crabb that this was Nelson's growing operation and a dozen or more people in the audience would testify that Johnson wasn't selling marijuana.
"He doesn't have the assets to suggest he was a dealer," Ginsberg added.
Instead, Ginsberg called his client a man who has worked his entire life, raised his kids and does charity work through the Centurion Motorcycle Club.
"All of us should be this community spirited," Ginsberg said.
Ginsberg asked for a probation-only sentence, saying Johnson was "stupid" to be growing marijuana in his basement, and if Johnson is the person he claims to be, he won't be back in court again.
"You know the good guys from the bad guys," Ginsberg said in closing.
Johnson, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to grow marijuana, said Friday that he has never been "more regretful or embarrassed by anything I've done."
Crabb took a brief recess to consult with a pre-sentence writer and without much explanation, announced she was putting Johnson on four years supervised release and sentencing him to one day in jail, deemed already served.
"I think you learned a lot from this experience and I think it's safe to say you won't be involved in other criminal activity for the rest of your life," she said.
After court Ginsberg was smiling with the approximately three dozen others attending the sentencing.
"We're grateful for this ... and it's Kelvin's job to show the court he is worthy of that commitment to this future," Ginsberg said.
District Judge Barbara Crabb rejected a prosecutor's recommendation that Johnson, 53, serve between 12 and 18 months in prison after being caught on surveillance camera tending a marijuana plot nestled in a cornfield along County C.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea asked Crabb not to believe Johnson's claim that he worked the large pot patch with Steven G. Nelson for just a small cut of the action.
"It's implausible that he would have carried water to these plants during one of the hottest, driest summers on record for a few plants," O'Shea said.
Nelson, who is to be sentenced next month, has said he was to split the plants "50-50" with Johnson, which would have yielded 100 pounds or more of marijuana, according to O'Shea.
After getting an anonymous tip, a law enforcement officer with the Green County Sheriff's Department and the State Line Area Narcotics Team, discovered 145 plants in a well-tended marijuana plot last June, said O'Shea.
Authorities set up a surveillance camera which later recorded Johnson and Nelson working the plot, said O'Shea.
During a subsequent search of Johnson's County C residence, located next door to the Washington Town Hall, authorities discovered additional seedlings growing in the basement. That allowed the government to seek forfeiture of the property which Johnson satisfied by paying $25,000.
Johnson sold his motorcycle, emptied his bank accounts and borrowed from friends and family to do so, said his attorney William Ginsberg of Madison.
Ginsberg told Crabb that this was Nelson's growing operation and a dozen or more people in the audience would testify that Johnson wasn't selling marijuana.
"He doesn't have the assets to suggest he was a dealer," Ginsberg added.
Instead, Ginsberg called his client a man who has worked his entire life, raised his kids and does charity work through the Centurion Motorcycle Club.
"All of us should be this community spirited," Ginsberg said.
Ginsberg asked for a probation-only sentence, saying Johnson was "stupid" to be growing marijuana in his basement, and if Johnson is the person he claims to be, he won't be back in court again.
"You know the good guys from the bad guys," Ginsberg said in closing.
Johnson, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to grow marijuana, said Friday that he has never been "more regretful or embarrassed by anything I've done."
Crabb took a brief recess to consult with a pre-sentence writer and without much explanation, announced she was putting Johnson on four years supervised release and sentencing him to one day in jail, deemed already served.
"I think you learned a lot from this experience and I think it's safe to say you won't be involved in other criminal activity for the rest of your life," she said.
After court Ginsberg was smiling with the approximately three dozen others attending the sentencing.
"We're grateful for this ... and it's Kelvin's job to show the court he is worthy of that commitment to this future," Ginsberg said.