By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A drug trafficking charge against a 67-year-old Alabaster man has been dropped, according to Shelby County Circuit Court documents.

Rickey Louis Kirkland, who lists an address on Fourth Avenue Northeast in Alabaster, was set to stand trial on the felony drug trafficking charge beginning on Monday, Nov. 5, in front of Circuit Court Judge William Bostick, but the charges were dismissed on Nov. 1 as the result of an agreement through Kirkland and prosecutors.

Through the agreement, all court costs were taxed to Kirkland, and must be paid by Nov. 5, 2020. Kirkland agreed to grant a “full, complete and absolute release from all civil and criminal liability.”

The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force originally arrested Kirkland on June 4, 2014, and charged him with the felony count of trafficking synthetic drugs.

A Shelby County grand jury indicted Kirkland on the charge during its June 2015 term, alleging Kirkland was found in possession of 1,264 grams of synthetic marijuana at his residence. The amount of controlled substance allegedly found in Kirkland’s possession led to the trafficking charge.

Kirkland had been out of jail on a $100,000 bond since June 10, 2014.