by TOM DOTY
Staff Writer

PRESTONSBURG — A Floyd County Jury found Liz Goble guilty of trafficking in methamphetamine Tuesday after only one day of testimony on the previous day.
The sentence recommendation handed down by the jury was the maximum allowed at 10 years and easily dwarfed the two sentences prosecutors offered during the plea phase of the case.
The original arrest was put together by the Floyd County Drug Task Force when they used an informant to make a $50 purchase of methamphetamine from Goble at her home.
Prosecutors called several witnesses who were all part of the drug sting that netted Goble while her defense failed to provide a witness to counter the commonwealth’s case.
The questioning of the state’s witnesses was conducted by Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Wayne Taylor. The chief witness was a confidential informant who was able to capture the drug sale on audio tape. The jury listened to the tape in court and this was followed by questioning of the informant and all officers involved in the case.
Defense attorney Michael Studebaker cross-examined the commonwealth’s witnesses but failed to make any of them appear unsure of their answers.
The defense failed to present a case.
Closing arguments began promptly at 9 Tuesday morning. Studebaker, for the defense, tried to point out that there were a lot of maybes in the case. He accused the tape of having too much static but at no time provided a plausible scenario for how and why any of the evidence could have been tainted. His defense consisted of repeatedly saying maybe something else could have happened at each stage of the process and he summed up by saying, “I’m not Johnny Cochran, but you can’t convict on a maybe.”
Taylor had a considerably easier time of it by reiterating the precautions used by the task force in gathering evidence and maintaining its integrity.
The only light moment came when he contested Studebaker’s interpretation of some of the language used on the taped recording of the transaction. Studebaker had pointed out that when people on the tape were heard to be discussing “lines” they could have been talking about anything. Taylor challenged Studebaker’s interpretation by asking the jury, “Is he gonna have you believe that they were in there doing wind sprints?”
Taylor also pointed out that Goble was a true saleswoman when she told the informant that she was feeling good after sampling her products by smoking and snorting them and went on to tell the informant to “come back when you need more.”
The jury deliberated for less than 30 minutes and returned a guilty verdict. This was followed by evidence given to help the jury reach a recommendation for sentencing.
The jury deliberated even longer on the sentencing but eventually came back with a 10-year recommendation, which is the maximum for the offense.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner was pleased with the decision and pointed out that it was the first jury conviction in Floyd County for trafficking in methamphetamine.
“Meth is an epidemic that is spreading here from Western Kentucky,” Turner said. “Hopefully this sends a message to anyone looking to get into this line of drugs.”
Taylor was quick to give most of the credit for the conviction to the Floyd County Drug Task Force.
“We came in with a rock-solid case built on the work of the drug task force,” Taylor said. “We’ve got a whole bunch of their cases coming up. We’re gonna take an aggressive stance.”
Studebaker was obviously less enthusiastic about how the trial ended.
“Basically Liz, at the outset, wanted a jury trial,” Taylor said. “We put the best case on that we could. We were shooting for something less than 10 [years].”