Judge Robert Vining called the sentence of an 83 year old Summerville man on marijuana charges and another hispanic male involved in the case “the most unreasonable sentence” he has ever handed out, but went on to say that he was constrained by the law to give the sentence due to prior convictions.

Paul Faulkner of Summerville was sentenced to a 20 year prison term in U.S. District Court in Rome on Thursday.  The U.S. government attorney stated that the mandatory sentence stemmed from Faulkner’s activities in bootlegging in the 1940’s and a marijuana charge in 1999. 

Other defendants in the government’s case got as little as 48 months in prison.  Faulkner’s lawyer argued that he was not the major player in the case, yet he received the stiffest sentence. 

The execution of Faulkner’s sentence has been delayed until August of this year.