3 accused in drug ring plead not guilty

Three people accused in an area drug conspiracy, including one who was convicted last week of a Charlottesville murder, pleaded not guilty to several charges Wednesday.

Jason Scott Marshman, Jarrett Rayma Jackson and Michael Turner Cole were arraigned in Charlottesville’s federal court.

Marshman, 31, was sentenced last week in Charlottesville Circuit Court to a 95-year active prison sentence. A jury convicted Marshman of killing 28-year-old William Miller Herndon in 2007. Marshman has appealed.

Marshman, Jackson and Cole, along with Kareem Antoine Turner, were charged in an indictment handed down July 29 by a federal grand jury. Turner is scheduled to be arraigned next Wednesday.

Cole, Marshman and Jackson each pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base and 5 kilograms or more of cocaine. The men face up to life in prison if convicted.

Marshman also pleaded not guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with the intent to distribute 5 grams or more of cocaine base.

Jackson pleaded not guilty to a separate charge of possession with the intent to distribute 50 grams or more of cocaine base and two counts each of selling or helping to sell a firearm to a known felon and possession with the intent to distribute 5 grams or more of cocaine base.

Marshman and Jackson also entered not guilty pleas to use of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. Cole entered a not guilty plea to possession with intent to distribute cocaine base.

Authorities are seeking at least $500,000 in forfeitures from Cole and Jackson.

According to a letter he sent to U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon, Jackson learned in August that he was charged in connection with a drug conspiracy.

“I don’t understand how I got these charges with people I [haven’t] been around in years because of their ways,” he wrote. “I separated myself away from them because I seen the path they were going, then I had altercations with them.”

Jackson identified Marshman as his cousin in the letter.

U.S. Magistrate Judge B. Waugh Crigler didn’t set bond for any of the men. They are scheduled for trial Nov. 9 in federal court.