Drug plea conviction extends habitual offenders sentence by an additional twenty-five years

A 21-year-old Fort Smith man who is already serving time in the Pine Bluff Unit of the Arkansas Department of Corrections for crimes committed in 2018 won't see the outside of prison walls for a number of years after a plea deal on four separate felony county in Sebastian County Circuit Court this week.

Joshua Lee Solley Jr., whose first felony convictions occurred in 2019 when he was charged as an adult at the age of seventeen on four counts of aggravated assault and felony possession of a firearm by a minor charges drew a total of 77-years in Imposed sentences on the backside of Wednesday;s plea deal

Fortunately for him, the terms were set to run consecutively, which brings down his actual total time to one 25-year sentence. His convictions Wednesday were for Trafficking in Controlled Substances, Simultaneous Possession of Drugs and Firearms, Possesion of Firearms by Certain Persons and Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver.

He also drew 43 years of suspended sentences.

In less than four years Solley has racked up a dozen felony convictions, which also resulted in him being sentenced this week as a habitual offender.