Daniel Yuhasey

IRON MOUNTAIN — A Kingsford man convicted of selling drugs and imitation substances after a two-day jury trial in December will spend a minimum of seven years in prison.

Daniel Yuhasey, 43, was sentenced Monday in Dickinson County Circuit Court to a maximum of 30 years in prison for the delivery or manufacture of methamphetamine, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison; and as many as 15 years for the manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance imitation, a two-year felony. Both terms will be served concurrently.

Yuhasey was convicted as a four-time habitual offender and could have served up to life in prison.

Defense attorney Henry McRoberts characterized Yuhasey as a man of talent and potential waylaid by addiction. McRoberts said his client had accepted the jury’s verdict and asked Dickinson County Circuit Judge Christopher Ninomiya consider sentencing Yuhasey to the lower end of the scoring range outlined in the pre-sentence investigation report.

While Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Kristin Kass acknowledged Yuhasey was a man of many strengths whose history of substance abuse was “tragic,” she noted he furthered others’ addictions as well by selling drugs.

“He knows firsthand how awful the consequences are,” Kass said.

Kass asked that Ninomiya follow the recommendation in the pre-sentence investigation report.

Yuhasey called himself “selfish, dissolute and weak” and apologized to his family and friends as well as the court and community.

“I thoroughly understand the severity of the crimes I’ve been convicted of,” Yuhasey said, later adding he planned to re-enter society better prepared to withstand the temptations of addiction.

“It’s going to take a lot of hard work,” Ninomiya said. “But if there’s anybody, Mr. Yuhasey, that has that potential, that has that ability, that has the skills and intellect necessary to get past this issue and be successful and commit themselves to rehabilitation and being a better person, I believe it’s you.”

According to the criminal complaints, Yuhasey sold suspected methamphetamine to a confidential informant during controlled transactions in October and November of 2018. Laboratory tests confirmed the substance sold in October was methamphetamine; the substance tested in November was not a controlled substance, according to the complaints.

Yuhasey was convicted after a jury trial that began Dec. 12. The jury deliberated for about an hour, according to a release from the Dickinson County Prosecutor’s Office. Evidence in the case included testimony from a confidential informant, the KIND Drug Enforcement Team and a forensic scientist from the Michigan State Police Forensic Science Division in Marquette.