Byron Jones Loses Drug-Dealing Conviction Appeal

A Greenwich Township man will remain behind bars on a 13-year state prison sentence for dealing drugs after a state appeals court rejected his arguments Friday.

Byron K. Jones, 42, was convicted in 2009 for possessing close to three-quarters of an ounce of cocaine with the intent to distribute, and in his appeal, claimed the sentence was excessive and put a hardship on his family. Jones also argued a drug-sniffing K-9's search of garbage bags was unconstitutional.

The court rejected both those arguments, saying there was nothing to support Jones' claim of hardship on his family, and said the K-9 search was justified, based on information the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office (GCPO) received from other law enforcement agencies about Jones' drug dealing in the county, as well as a GCPO detective’s understanding of dealers' “propensity to discard drug paraphernalia” in trash.

Cocaine residue and marijuana were found in the garbage bags during that search, which led to a search of Jones' Berkley Road home in February 2007. That search turned up 100 baggies of cocaine, leading to the conviction.

To suppress the dog-sniff findings “would only protect the illegitimate privacy claims of drug possessors,” Deputy New Jersey Attorney General Teresa A. Blair wrote in a brief opposing the appeal.

Jones also was convicted in April 2010 of selling cocaine to an undercover GCPO detective and was sentenced to seven years in prison. He is also appealing that sentence.