MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Under ordinary circumstances, the marijuana that law enforcement officers found in a Dodge Durango in 2024 likely would not have meant much prison time for Marcus Dewayne Cobbs Jr.
Although the trafficking charge that prosecutors filed theoretically could have resulted in a life sentence, the actual punishment for charges involving 2.4 pounds of marijuana almost certainly would have been far less.
But prosecutors alleged the drugs furthered the interest of an illegal criminal enterprise, and in February, Cobbs became the first person in Alabama convicted under the state’s new anti-gang statute. That mandates a sentence of at least 25 years in prison, which Mobile County Circuit Judge Jill Phillips imposed on Thursday.
“This 25-year sentence is a day for day that he must serve; will not get paroled,” Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood said outside the courtroom…