A Jones County jury found the defendant in last week’s trial not guilty on all counts.
The trial for Jeremy Ross Gunnells began at 9 a.m., April 20, and concluded at noon the following day. Jurors were allowed to go to lunch and started their deliberation 1:35 p.m. They returned with their verdict at 3:14 p.m., April 21.
Gunnells was charged with theft by receiving stolen property, conspiracy to commit tampering with evidence and trafficking methamphetamine.
He was indicted on the offenses Oct. 7, 2020, with codefendant Jennifer Conn Tingle.
Tingle entered a guilty plea in Jones County Superior Court April 8, 2021, and received a sentence of 20 years for the lesser-included offense of VGCSA possession methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, three years for tampering with evidence and five years for theft by receiving stolen property. All the counts are to run concurrently for a total of 20 years with the first seven years served in confinement. The remainder of the sentence is to be served on probation.
Tingle was given credit for the time served from Aug. 17, 2020.
The state called 10 witnesses. Those witnesses included the investigators involved in the arrests of Gunnells and Tingle, as well as Tingle.
Gunnells was represented in the trial by defense attorney Nicole Jones of Douglasville. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Macelyne Williams and Kigin Hill.
Superior Court Judge Terry Massey presided over the case.
The case against Gunnells included a triangle involving him, Tingle and another man, who she also dated. The story of what led to the drug charges came out in the testimony of the witnesses and jail visitation videos and phone calls played for the jury.
It began with the theft of a dirt bike. Exactly who took the bike was never revealed, but it was found in the possession of Gunnells.
At that point, he was arrested and charged with theft by receiving. Due to his extensive criminal history, he remained in jail and faced possible probation and parole violations. In order to attempt to help himself with the charges, Gunnells asked to speak with drug investigators.
Investigator Barron Hall explained that the names Gunnells was giving them were common knowledge, and not enough to help him.
That was when Gunnells offered his girlfriend, Tingle, to assist with setting up a drug deal. In order to be a significant enough arrest to help Gunnells, investigators required a trafficking amount of drugs.
Tingle tried reaching out to dealers but never made the connection needed. It came out in her testimony that she was actually the one who tipped off the owner of the bike that Gunnells had it. Tingle told Gunnells in the videos played for the jury that she got him into the mess, and she would get him out.
Her solution was to set up her other boyfriend. She planted more than 33 grams of methamphetamine in his truck and then told investigators where they could find him.
However, it did not take investigators long to figure out that the boyfriend had no idea the drugs were in his truck, and Tingle was arrested.
Gunnells was charged in the crimes because investigators believed he was aware of Tingle’s plan, and at the least, encouraged her. That knowledge would make him a party to the crime and culpable under the law.
Even though he was found not guilty, Gunnells remains in jail. He was indicted Dec. 14, 2021, on the charge of interference with government property for incidents that took place while he was incarcerated in the Jones County Law Enforcement Center.
