GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Two weeks after a Gwinnett County man was arrested for marijuana possession, his mother is fighting to get him released after a judge denied him bond.
Jawuan Battle, 20, was arrested on June 7 for marijuana possession with the intent to distribute along with two friends after a traffic stop. He told police he had an ounce of marijuana in his backpack. His mother told Channel 2′s Matt Johnson that she was stunned to find out he would not get out of jail shortly after his arrest.
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“It hurts me to see my son in there like that,” said Tammy Milligan, fighting back tears. “I want my son out and I won’t stop.”
Milligan goes to the jail every day to stand outside and pray for her son’s release. She said the punishment does not fit the crime.
“He made a mistake and ya’ll holding him with no bond, an at-risk felon, like he killed somebody,” she said.
Battle was a passenger in a car with four others when Gwinnett County Police stopped the car for its window tint on Duluth Highway near Professional Drive for its window tint before 8 o’clock at night.
A police report stated “Jawuan Tyrek Battle informed [the officer] that he had around an ounce of ‘weed’ in his book bag.” Battle told the officer the marijuana was for personal use.
The officer also found $700 in cash on one of his friends and a gun on another along with a scale and 2 more oz of marijuana.
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Police arrested Battle and two others and charged them all with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Ja’Coy Staden and Daveion Teague-Parham are both in jail with the same charges and are being held without bond after their arrest with Battle.
A judge kept them all in jail without bond citing “a risk of committing additional felonies.”
Battle has no previous criminal history in Gwinnett County. He has a prior arrest in Texas for a non-violent weapons charge and his mother said it was dismissed.
“He don’t deserve to be in there with people in there for murder,” she said.
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