By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A Birmingham man will spend the next year in prison after he was sentenced on Nov. 25 for trafficking marijuana in Pelham.

During a Nov. 25 hearing, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sentenced 39-year-old Lazarus Jerome Lewis to 15 years in prison, but split the sentence between one year in the Alabama Penitentiary and thee years of supervised probation after his release.

Lewis’ address was listed on 12^th Place in Birmingham.

Reeves also ordered Lewis to pay a $25,000 fine, pass random alcohol and drug screens, complete a substance abuse treatment program and to obtain his GED while he is incarcerated.

Lewis was arrested by the Birmingham Police Department on May 15, 2010, two days after he “unlawfully and knowingly (did) sell, manufacture, deliver or bring into this state or knowingly have in actual or constructive possession in excess of … 2.2 pounds but less than 100 pounds” of marijuana while he was near the intersection of Shelby County 52 and Interstate 65 in Pelham.

Lewis posted a $100,000 bond the day after he was arrested, and remained out on bond until his sentencing.