Felony court shorts
By WILLIAM SNOWDEN
Editor
Some of the actions taken in this month’s felony court cases in front of Wakulla Circuit Judge Layne Smith:
Brannon Stringer entered a plea to a reduced charge of petty theft and was adjudicated guilty and ordered to serve a year on county probation.
The charges stemmed from 2024 when a woman who was reportedly involved with Stringer reported that items were missing from her home, and that Stringer had agreed to feed her pets and take care of the home while she was in jail.
In July 2024, a traffic stop was conducted on a vehicle Stringer was driving and he was arrested on a charge of possession of meth. A Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver reported stolen was recovered in the vehicle. There were also DeWalt tools and other items in the vehicle that were reported stolen.
Stringer was recorded in jailhouse phone calls to the victim telling her he would fix everything, and in another call that he should have sold everything.
Dalton McClure entered a plea to charges of false imprisonment and was sentenced to 36 months in state prison.
The charges stemmed from domestic violence in which McClure and the victim were arguing, he prevented her from leaving and grabbed her by the hair on the back of her head and slammed her to the floor.
McClure also had a misdemeanor battery charge as part of the case, and two other misdemeanor cases of battery.
McClure pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor cases and was sentenced to time served.
After the prison term, McClure will face 24 months of probation with conditions that include batterer’s intervention.
Jesse Ward was sentenced to 36 months in state prison on new charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The new charge was a violation of probation for a prior felony charge of grand theft more than $20,000.
Ward entered to the plea to the charge on Thursday, March 5, as part of a negotiated plea.
He was adjudicated guilty and ordered to serve prison time with credit for 83 days time served.
According to the arrest report, Ward seen on video removing two long rifles from a home on Smith Creek Highway. The rifles – a .30-30 lever action and a .25-35 bolt action with a scope – were seen being loaded by Ward into a pickup truck.
As a felon, Ward is not allowed to possess firearms. He was previously convicted of a grand theft charge in 2021 over the theft of a Marsh Master – a piece of heavy equipment – stolen from River Plantation. In that case, detectives tracked video of a truck that loaded the machine onto a trailer – and were able to identify the truck as belonging to Ward.
In court, as part of the plea, Ward admitted to violating his probation and received a concurrent sentence of 36 months in state prison with credit for 83 days.
Ward had a second case of possession of a firearm by convicted felon in which deputies served a search warrant on his property and found a .22 rifle and a .270 Remington, as well as two compound bows and numerous drugs.
Jessica Weatherly was sentenced to 270 days in the Wakulla County Jail on two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Weatherly entered a plea of no contest in felony court on Thursday, March 5 before Judge Smith to the charges as part of a negotiated plea deal. She was adjudicated guilty of the charges and ordered to serve the jail time with credit for 75 days already served.
Weatherly was arrested in July 2025 after deputies served a search warrant on her home on Sue Lane. She was detained and placed in a patrol car as deputies served the warrant.
Returning to the car where Weatherly was detained, deputies found a clear baggy inside the car with a white powder that tested positive for cocaine. There were also three pills in the backseat.
When Weatherly arrived at the jail, she was searched and a container containing a crystal-like substance was found that tested positive for methamphetamine.