DUBLIN, Ga. — A Dublin man is sharing his story after he was charged with growing marijuana in his bedroom.
Javonnie McCoy’s four-year fight with the District Attorney ended with an acquittal this year.
McCoy has lived in Dublin for more than a decade, but he says suffering a brain injury after being assaulted in 2003 changed his life.
"I didn't know what to do, so me and my friends were sitting down and talking, and I grabbed a joint because that's how we used to help pain,” he said.
After suffering the injury, McCoy says he smoked marijuana for more than a decade.
Court documents show that it wasn’t until he got into a fight with his brother in 2014 that Laurens County deputies found the marijuana growing at his home.
He doesn’t deny growing it.
“Once it comes up and my head is hurting and I don’t have any money, I can go and pull a piece off the bush,” he said.
He was charged and brought to trial under manufacturing marijuana and drug possession charges.
“I’m not saying it’s the legal way, but it’s my way to keep myself out of trouble [and] to keep myself sane,” said McCoy.
But on July 12, a jury found him NOT GUILTY on both counts. It’s news he celebrated.
“At first, I threw one thumb up, then I threw the other one up. I went and started dancing outside the courthouse,” he said.
The jury took more than two hours to deliberate, according to juror Anthony Manning.
“[There were] a lot of gray areas in the case. Nobody felt right about convicting this guy and sending him to prison,” he said.
Manning says McCoy’s character also helped them decide on the verdict.
“I think it touched a lot of people’s emotions and a few from the start said he’s not guilty,” said Manning.
McCoy’s lawyer, Catherine Bernard, specializes in representing marijuana defendants and calls the case part of a bigger issue.
“We need to focus about what our country is, ‘Who is America?’ I don’t think we want our doors kicked in over someone growing a plant,” she said.
13WMAZ made multiple attempts to contact Dublin District Attorney Craig Frasier.
The Laurens County Sheriff’s Office had no comment on the case.
McCoy would not confirm or deny if he’s still using marijuana for pain from his head injury.
He could have faced 11 years in prison if convicted on those two charges.