On July 31, 2017, in the Queen Anne’s County Circuit Court, Brian Labar Taylor entered a plea of guilty to Possession with Intent to Distribute Clonazepam, a schedule IV controlled dangerous substance.  He is a subsequent offender. The plea stems from a March 22, 2017 traffic stop by a Queen Anne’s County Sheriff’s Deputy in which Mr. Taylor, the front seat passenger of the vehicle, was discovered with an open warrant for his arrest.  A search of Taylor, incident to his lawful arrest, revealed less than 10 grams of marijuana, approximately half a gram of cocaine, three methamphetamine tablets and 21 clonazepam tablets.  The drugs were located in a knotted plastic baggie.  Taylor was also found to be in possession of additional plastic baggies.  The presence of these baggies, the number of pills and method of their packaging are all indicia of possession with intent to distribute.

Mr. Taylor was immediately sentenced to 30 months of incarceration at the Division of Corrections related to the current possession with intent conviction. His guilty plea also violated his probation in a previous case in which he was convicted of assault and possession with intent to distribute.  He received an additional seven years of active incarceration in the violation of probation case, to be served consecutively to the 30 month sentence.  Mr. Taylor’s combined sentence of active incarceration is 9 years, 6 months.  Taylor has a criminal record that includes reckless endangerment, possession of a handgun, drug paraphernalia, criminal impersonation, driving without a license, assault and failure to obey a lawful police order.

Deputy State’s Attorney Christine Dulla Rickard prosecuted this case.