By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 19-year-old Alabaster man who is facing felony charges after allegedly possessing marijuana and striking one of his parents multiple times during an October incident has been accepted to a faith-based rehabilitation program while out on bond for the crimes, according to court documents.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested 19-year-old Justin Tyler Honeycutt on Oct. 15 and charged him with felony counts of domestic violence by strangulation or suffocation and first-degree possession of marijuana and a misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia.

The arrest came after an incident during which Honeycutt allegedly choked one of his parents and “hit or struck the victim multiple times,” garnering the domestic violence charge.

During the incident, officers also found Honeycutt to be in possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to the suspect’s records.

A few days after Honeycutt was arrested, his attorney filed a motion in Shelby County District Court asking Judge Dan Reeves to reduce the suspect’s total bond from $26,000 to allow the suspect to bond out of the Shelby County Jail.

“Mr. Honeycutt’s family refuses to post bond for him, and he has no other resources to make bond,” read the motion. “Moreover, if he were to make bond, he presently has no place to stay, no job and no car or phone with which to seek employment.

“Mr. Honeycutt, however, does have supporters from his church willing and able to pay his entry fee to the Foundry residential facility,” the motion read. “Among the services provided by the Foundry is assistance with transportation and employment.”

The Foundry is a residential facility based in Birmingham, and uses a faith-based approach in an effort to help rehabilitate offenders.

During a Nov. 4 hearing, Reeves agreed to reduce Honeycutt’s bond to a total of $6,500, and ordered Honeycutt to report to the Foundry immediately upon release from the Shelby County Jail.

“Condition of bond is that defendant go directly from jail to the Foundry and complete program,” Reeves wrote. “Court and (district attorney’s) office to be notified if defendant fails to complete.”

As of Nov. 4, Honeycutt had not yet been released from the Shelby County Jail.