A Catawba County jury needed about 15 minutes of deliberation to find a Hickory man guilty of trafficking methamphetamine by possession on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, to conclude a trial after a day and a half in Catawba County
The Honorable Clifton H. Smith, Superior Court Judge from Catawba County, sentenced Latywn Devin Middleton to serve an active prison term of six to eight years after the 12-member jury panel returned its decision.
Middleton also was assessed a mandatory fine of $50,000.
The defendant will serve his period of incarceration in custody of the North Carolina Division of Adult Corrections.
The trial started with jury selection Monday afternoon following Midleton’s plea to assaulting a detention center employee taken earlier that day. The trafficking conviction will be served at the expiration of the assault case that was 10 to 21 months in length.
On January 30, 2025, a traffic stop was initiated by an officer from Hickory Police Department because of an unreadable tag. During the stop, a second officer arrived, and a K9 unit conducted a sniff of the vehicle, alerting to the presence of drugs.
Middleton, the driver, and a passenger were removed from the vehicle. A subsequent search revealed a backpack with several packages/baggies containing controlled substances, digital scales with white powder residue on them and other drug paraphernalia in the back driver’s side floorboard behind Middleton. The backpack also contained a durag identical to one worn by Middleton and contained a bag that matched a wallet the defendant had on him.
The State Crime Lab confirmed the substances to be a trafficking amount of methamphetamine.
The assault on a detention officer happened on January 31, 2025, when an officer tried to retrieve a tablet the defendant was not authorized to have from him in his jail cell.
Middleton refused multiple times, verbally threatened the officer and then lunged at him twice. The second time they made contact and the officer’s head hit the doorframe, causing a laceration. A second officer assisted, and Middleton continued to hit both of them with the tablet. More officers arrived and restrained the defendant.
Investigation of the cases was conducted by Hickory Police Department and Catawba County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant District Attorney Kyle Smith prosecuted the matter for the State with aid from Legal Assistant Amy Bishoff.