Court of Appeals upholds Ingham Co. man’s meth convictions

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — An Ingham County man will stay in prison after the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld his jury convictions for possessing with intent to deliver methamphetamine.

Chad Allyn King, 50, was convicted in Ingham County Circuit Court for three counts of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of delivery of methamphetamine, his Michigan Department of Corrections prisoner information reveals.

Following the Court of Appeals decision, King will stay in the Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis, Gratiot County.

King had appealed the conviction for delivery, arguing the Ingham County prosecutors who charged and prosecuted him failed to provide enough evidence to prove he possessed and delivered the drug.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruling, issued July 18, reports a detective for a multiagency undercover narcotics investigation met with King, and his co-defendant Erica Miller in 2021. The detective testified he purchased what the Michigan State Police Crime Lab identified as 27.64 grams of methamphetamine.

Subsequently, law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant for the property where King and Miller had sold the methamphetamine previously. King was the only person present at the house at the time the search warrant was executed.

During the search three guns were found — two in the house and one in King’s car. In addition, methamphetamine was found in a kitchen drawer.

The Court of Appeals decision explains more in regards to what happened when the search warrant was being served:

Defendant consented to an interview with investigators while the search warrant was being
executed. He stated that there was methamphetamine in the kitchen drawer next to the refrigerator, that he had placed it there when the police were executing the search warrant, and that he was supposed to sell the methamphetamine that he put in that drawer to someone later that night. Defendant was subsequently charged, convicted, and sentenced as earlier described. This appeal followed.

Michigan Court of Appeals decision, State of Mich. v. King, unpublished opinion issued July 18, 2024

In his appeal, King argued two separate but related claims.

Defendant does not contest that the controlled substance involved in this matter was methamphetamine, nor does he challenge the amount of the substance recovered pursuant to the search warrant. Rather, he asserts that he did not agree with co-defendant Miller’s intent to sell narcotics. He claims he did not possess the same intent as Miller, nor did he knowingly
participate in the illicit drug sale. He further avers that he did not possess methamphetamine at
the time the search warrant was executed. Instead, defendant claims that there were others known to frequent the residence (presumably those who possessed the illicit drugs and weapons). He states on appeal that he “happened to be the only [person] present when the warrant was executed[,]” which resulted in the police discovering contraband in the home and in his vehicle.

Michigan Court of Appeals decision, State of Mich. v. King, unpublished opinion issued July 18, 2024

The Court of Appeals panel, consisting of Appeals Court Judges Michael Riordan, Michelle Rick and Noah Hood, reject his claims with a review of the definitions of deliver and delivery.

King also argued the prosecution failed to prove he “knew and agreed” to co-defendant’s sale of methamphetamine. The trio wrote in the opinion, “sufficient evidence was presented to allow the jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew of and shared Miller’s intent to deliver methamphetamine to the detective, and that, at minimum, defendant aided and abetted in the delivery.”

The judges affirmed his conviction.

King was sentenced to up to 20 years in prison for his methamphetamine possession with intent to deliver convictions. He was also sentenced to over 5 years for the felon in possession of a firearm charges.

He was a felon for convictions on criminal sexual conduct charges for actions that occurred in 2005. He was sentenced in 2010 by the Lenawee Circuit Court, served time in prison and had just completed his parole in Sept. of 2021, months before the execution of the search warrant.

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