Ex-Lynn woman gets 5 years in prison for dealing drugs

LAWRENCE – A former Lynn woman nabbed for peddling cocaine in Lynn was sentenced to serve five years in state prison after pleading guilty.Joyce A. Johnson, 43, last known address of 52 Myrtle St., Manchester, N.H., was scheduled to go on trial but instead changed her plea to guilty Monday in Lawrence Superior Court, to a subsequent offense of drug distribution.She was sentenced by Judge Richard E. Welch, III to serve five years in Framingham Prison for Women. Johnson has served more than two years awaiting trial, for which she will receive credit.The charge arose out of an incident on June 23, 2008 when she sold a $40 bag of cocaine to an undercover officer during a hand-to-hand drug deal on Union Street.She was convicted of the charge of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine in 2009 by a Superior Court jury and then, after the conviction, she waived her right to another trial on the subsequent offense portion and was sentenced to five to six years in state prison.Earlier this year due to a legal technicality the Appeals Board granted Johnson a new trial concerning the subsequent offense portion, stating that because Johnson could not read or write and never signed a jury waiver indicating her rights to a trial, the new trial was granted only on the subsequent offense portion of the charge.It is that portion she pleaded guilty to Monday morning, receiving the five-year punishment for possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, subsequent offense.Johnson, the mother of seven children and a graduate of Lynn Classical High School, previously was convicted of drug distribution in 2001 out of the Lynn District Court and in 2000 out of Lynn District Court.Because of the drug conviction, she will also lose her driving privileges in Massachusetts for five years.Assistant District Attorney Jean M. Curran asked for a five- to seven-year punishment based on her record.Defense lawyer Michael Phelan urged the judge to be lenient and recommended the five-year sentence, which is the minimum under the statue for a subsequent offense conviction, which Welch adopted.Phelan in a telephone conversation said Johnson?s mother, brother and two of her adult children were present during the hearing.