An Asheville man has been sentenced to as much as eight years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a December 2024 traffic stop in which police say they found two men drinking tequila, using drugs, and carrying guns in a vehicle near Haywood Road. Derontrez Coleman, now 34, pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon and attaining habitual felon status, and a judge sentenced him to 76 to 104 months in state prison.
The case traces back to December 17, 2024, when police say they spotted the two men in the vehicle before it drove the wrong way down Granada Street and weaved between lanes, prompting a stop, according to the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office. Officers searched the vehicle, seized two handguns, and arrested Coleman along with a co-defendant, the DA’s office says. Both men were barred from legally possessing firearms because of past felony convictions.
A WYFF report on the case described the arrests and charges out of that same stop, noting that during the traffic stop, police found two guns and the men were taken into custody. The report identified Coleman as 33 at the time, while the DA’s office and a more recent report from FOX Carolina list him as 34; the discrepancy is not resolved in the available records.
A Record That Triggered the Habitual Felon Enhancement
Coleman pleaded guilty before Judge Alan Z. Thornburg to possession of a firearm by a felon, a class G felony, and to attaining habitual felon status, a class C felony, per the DA’s office. He was sentenced as a class C felon at prior record level V, the office says. His prior record includes felony convictions for habitual breaking and entering, felony common law robbery, and felony larceny of a motor vehicle, according to the same account.
Under North Carolina’s habitual felon law, a defendant with three prior felony convictions can face enhanced prison time on a new felony charge, and prosecutors must show that each prior conviction occurred before the next crime was committed. The law also requires a judge to sentence a habitual felon at a higher felony class than the underlying charge would normally carry. The cited statute, G.S. 14-7.6, specifies that a habitual felon must be sentenced four felony classes higher than the principal felony, but not higher than a class C felony — which is exactly the ceiling applied in Coleman’s case.
DA Points to Structured Sentencing Priorities
District Attorney Todd Williams said North Carolina’s structured sentencing laws link the severity of a sentence to both the seriousness of the present offense and the defendant’s prior criminal record. Williams said the sentence reflects state legislative criminal justice priorities for repeat felons, according to the DA’s office’s account of the case.
The case highlights how a routine traffic stop over erratic driving escalated into a felony prosecution carrying nearly a decade of potential prison time once Coleman’s criminal history came into play. The identity of the co-defendant and the outcome of any charges against that person were not detailed in the sentencing account.
