By james art 
MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A 71-year-old Birmingham man who was convicted of delivering drugs in Baldwin County and sentenced to 80 years in prison will be sentenced this week in federal court.
A federal jury in Mobile found James Harding guilty in 2022. in conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin and possession with intent to distribute heroin. U.S. District Judge Terry Moorer imposed the maximum sentence last year.
But the 11th. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in June overturned the conviction after ruling that Moorer abused his discretion by admitting evidence from a search of the defendant’s home in September 2021. This was almost 29 months after the alleged plot ended.
The appeals court ruled that evidence from the search, weapons and a large amount of heroin, was admissible to help establish Hardin’s intent to sell drugs. However, the court ruled that Moorer abused his discretion by failing to provide a “limiting instruction” to the jury that they could not consider it as evidence of the defendant’s character” or as evidence that he acted in accordance with this character.
“But the jury was never informed of their prohibition,” Chief Justice William Pryor wrote for the court. “Thus, the lack of a limiting instruction ‘opened the door for the jury to view this evidence in an improper light.’
The case began with an investigation by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office, the Baldwin County Narcotics Unit, the Safe Streets Unit and the FBI. Prosecutors allege the co-defendants sold drugs supplied by Hardin in Daphne and Fairhope.
The trial is expected to last four days.
Copyright 2024 WALA. All rights reserved.