Macon lawyer pleads guilty in federal drug case

A Macon attorney admitted Wednesday she participated in a drug deal in the parking lot of a Church’s Chicken restaurant on Hardeman Avenue, near Interstate 75 and downtown Macon, in June 2015.

Holly H. Edwards, 36, pleaded guilty to possession of oxycodone and methamphetamine, with intent to distribute both drugs, during a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

A federal judge agreed to allow Edwards to remain on bond until her July 6 sentencing hearing. She could face up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard said a June 4, 2015, meeting between Edwards and an undercover GBI agent was recorded using audio and visual equipment.

When Edwards got into the undercover agent’s car, she gave him a small amount of methamphetamine, saying it was from a different supplier than usual, and asked that the agent try it, Howard said.

The agent responded that the drugs were for a co-worker and said he’d get back with her, the prosecutor said.

Given $500 for 10 oxycodone pills and an eight-ball of methamphetamine, Edwards drove to a nearby Citgo gas station to meet with her supplier. She returned, without the methamphetamine, and delivered the pills with a promise that the methamphetamine would be coming later in the day, Howard said.

The undercover agent tried to reach Edwards after the transaction, but was unable to reach her, she said.

Answering questions posed by the judge, Edwards said she entered an in-patient drug rehabilitation center Nov. 7 and has continued out-patient care since her discharge Jan. 4.

“I accept full responsibility for what I’ve done,” she told the judge. Edwards will have another opportunity to speak at her sentencing hearing this summer.

In his argument for Edwards to remain on bond until her sentencing, defense attorney Charles E. Cox Jr. said Edwards is attending weekly therapy and is in contact with the state bar association pertaining to other matters. No other details about those matters were discussed.

Her bar record didn’t show any public disciplinary history Wednesday.

Prior to opening her own law practice in 2009, Edwards had worked as an assistant public defender in Houston County and as an associate attorney for Macon’s Hogue & Hogue firm.

Edwards was indicted Aug. 11 and arrested about a week later in a traffic stop on Interstate 75 in Houston County.

A Monroe County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman said an investigation began in early May after deputies learned Edwards might have been engaged in illegal activities.

A public defender was appointed to represent Edwards at her first appearance hearing, though Cox was later appointed to handle the case after a conflict of interest surfaced that prevented federal public defenders from continuing work on the case, according to court records.

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report.

This story was originally published April 20, 2016 at 10:28 AM with the headline "Macon lawyer pleads guilty in federal drug case."