WEATHERFORD - A Parker County jury found a Fort Worth man guilty of a third degree felony methamphetamine possession charge Wednesday morning in a case that resulted from an October, 2007 search warrant executed in the Springtown area by Parker County Special Crimes Unit officers.
After a brief punishment hearing, 43rd District Court Judge Don Chrestman set the sentence for 45-year-old Bryan Keith Shuler at five years in prison.
Evidence presented by Assistant District Attorneys Jeff Swain and Abigail Placke Tuesday showed that officers located a laptop computer bag within a few feet of where Shuler was standing within a detached garage. Inside the computer bag was a baggie containing 1.5 grams of methamphetamine, a stolen .357 caliber pistol, Shuler’s expired driver’s license, a cell phone, a fictitious driver’s license, a bail bondsman’s business card, and $1,400 in cash. Testimony from the officers showed that the phone listed “Dad” with the same number that Shuler used for his father when he was booked into the Parker County Jail. The bail bondsman whose card was in the bag testified that he bonded Shuler out of the Tarrant County Jail in April, 2007.
In Shuler’s pickup, officers said that they located additional baggies which they said are commonly used to hold illegal drugs, a rifle, a pair of handcuffs, a pair of leg irons, zip ties, a knife, and a gas mask.
In an interview played for the jury, Shuler said that he was at the home “to collect on a debt”, that he had been at the property for two days, and that there were some people whose names he did not know who were there using methamphetamine the night before. A woman who resided at the residence testified that she and her husband had hired Shuler to complete some remodeling work on their property.
During closing argument, Fort Worth attorney Danny Burns, who represented Shuler, argued that his client’s identity and license could have been stolen.
In their closing arguments, Swain asked jurors to use their common sense and consider the unlikely series of events that would have had to have taken place to have all of the items related to Shuler in the bag with the drugs located within a matter of feet from where officers found him and have it not be his. Placke said that Shuler would have to have been “the unluckiest man alive” for that to have occurred.
After deliberating for about an hour, jurors returned with a guilty verdict.
During the punishment phase of trial, the prosecution introduced judgments showing that Shuler had previously been convicted of theft and possession of a prohibited weapon.
“We felt that this was a straightforward possession case,” Placke said. “We appreciate the jury’s work and agree with the sentence imposed by the judge.”
Shuler will be eligible for parole when he has served a quarter of his sentence, Swain said.
