Latest meth trafficking conviction nets Christopher Shane Smith a $1 million fine

This week, Tallapoosa Circuit District Attorney Jack Browning showed off the methamphetamine that Christopher Shane Smith was charged with dealing during the trial against one of many drug defendants in a 2019 bust. One bag was two pounds, the other half of a pound.

That methamphetamine was enough to get Smith, who decided to go to trial and face a jury instead of taking a plea deal after being caught with the drugs months after being released from jail, to send him back to prison for the next 20 years and pay off a $1 million fine for his part in a trafficking operation involving the Aryan Brotherhood.

Browning said that the trial that began today ended with the jury coming back with decisions of guilty on most of the charges that Smith faced. They decided not to find him guilty on three street gang activity-related charges, and one of three conspiracy charges that he faced.

He got 30 years in sentencing from Tallapoosa Circuit Superior Court Judge Mark Murphy, but he’ll only have to serve 20 of those behind bars along with paying the fine. That sentence was handed down for two conspiracy felonies involving drug trafficking, two counts of drug trafficking, two counts of possession of methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, and firearms possession charges related to his previous felon status.

Smith’s girlfriend at the time Amanda Dempsey took a guilty plea in a deal that got her 10 years behind bars on a 20-year sentence.

Browning said that Smith’s conviction was a win for the community.

“I’m proud of the work that the Polk County Drug Task Force did in this case,” Browning said. “If it wasn’t for their good work, we wouldn’t be able to get high-level dealers off of the streets, and this guy was definitely a high-level dealer.”

The case involved officers utilizing a wiretap to find a network of multiple defendants trafficking methamphetamine across both counties.