Trammell pleads not guilty to 'pot' charge

By The Associated Press

BENTONVILLE — A man who was convicted as a youth of killing his father with a crossbow has pleaded not guilty to a felony marijuana charge.

Justin Wade Trammell, 23, was charged with a felony after authorities accused him of growing marijuana and with misdemeanors for reportedly possessing marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Trammell was 15 when convicted of murdering his father with a crossbow in September 1999. He served almost three years in juvenile detention and was later sent to a serious youth offender program for a few months after repeated probation violations.

Trammell entered the not guilty plea Monday, along with co-defendant Christopher Michael Haughn, 25. The two have a pretrial hearing set for June 30 before Benton County Circuit Judge Tom Keith.

Trammell remained free on $15,000 bond. Haughn remained in the Benton County Jail on Tuesday morning in lieu of a $7,500 bond.

Justin Wade Trammell, shown in this file photo, was charged in Washington County with terroristic threatening.

Bentonville police searched Trammell's and Haughn's apartment once in February and once in March, with Trammell and Haughn present. An affidavit says police both times found marijuana, paraphernalia and marijuana cigarettes.

Last July, Trammell was acquitted of a terroristic threatening charge in Washington County, accused of threatening to kill the mother of his child. He also has served jail time for failing to pay child support.

In January 2007, Trammell and Mitchell Johnson, one of the Jonesboro school shooters, were arrested after officers stopped their van and found weapons and marijuana. Johnson was convicted in January of this year of a federal weapons charge related to that arrest. He was free for a time pending sentencing but, in February, he was arrested twice in Benton County and returned to jail. He has not yet been sentenced for the federal conviction.