Lawyer asks for clemency for client

A 41-year-old Texas man convicted of possessing 12 pounds of methamphetamine on Interstate 35 last summer was sentenced on Thursday to six years and two months in prison.

Francisco Molina, of Tyler, Texas, was convicted by a jury in October of one count of first-degree drug possession.

Minnesota State Patrol troopers pulled Molina over in July near the interstate overpass to Minnesota Highway 251 on I-35 — the Clarks Grove exit — and found the drugs after a search of his vehicle.

Molina’s lawyer, James Chatto, asked Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab on Thursday to give his client a second chance — and sentence him only to probation. He said Molina was not the manufacturer or seller of the drugs and that he was likely motivated by money for the trip.

“The bottom line is Mr. Molina is a good person to take a chance on,” Chatto said.

Schwab said though Molina had been respectful in court, had no criminal history other than a DWI and appeared to have a support system of family and friends, he could not in good conscience put the man on probation.

“You seem like a fairly decent person who did a very bad thing,” the judge said.

He noted that the estimated street value of the meth was about a half a million dollars and appeared to be the work of a “major drug operation.”

“I think you were used by this drug cartel — this drug organization,” Schwab said.

Molina will receive credit for 204 days already spent in jail and will be required to serve two-thirds of the sentence in prison. He will spend his remaining time on supervised release.

The Freeborn County Attorney’s Office and the Minnesota Department of Corrections had recommended Molina serve seven years and two months.