Former Destin attorney remorseful in 'embarrassing' drug case

DeFUNIAK SPRINGS - An ex-prosecutor facing jail on drug charges is apologizing for his addiction to prescriptions and still hoping for a reduced sentence.

"What I did was wrong and my arrest was incredibly embarrassing for myself and my family," said Jason Cobb, a former assistant state attorney who had been running his own practice in DeFuniak Springs. But "in short, my arrest probably saved my life."

Cobb was arrested last year outside his office, where police said a confidential informant sold him 30 Hydrocodone pills. Cobb now says the informant was a friend who'd called him, and the pills were gifts to ease his chronic back pain.

This week, the state attorney's office announced Cobb pleaded no contest to the charges and agreed to spend a year in the Walton County Jail - the first year of a five-year probation sentence.

He will officially be sentenced May 29.

After his stint as a prosecutor, Cobb worked for the Destin law firm Conerly and Helmich and later as a defense attorney at his own law office.

In 2005, he represented such clients as Byron Cosson, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for DUI manslaughter, and Jessie Guardado, who is on death row for the murder of a 75-year-old woman.

Following his arrest last year, Cobb lobbied a circuit judge for leniency, citing the debilitating pain that led to his drug dependency and what he said was unreliable testimony from witnesses.

He wrote to Judge Keith Brace that he'd embarrassed his family - including his father, Fred Cobb, former chief deputy for Okaloosa County Sheriff Charlie Morris.

In February, Cobb's wife wrote to State Attorney Bill Eddins to ask for mercy - and to dispute other drug-use accusations against her husband.

As he awaits sentencing, Cobb said he's completed a detox program and had back surgery.

As of Thursday, he had not been disbarred.

"I hope I can regain (the community's) trust," he said. "This is a difficult time for my family and will continue to be difficult until I have completed my sentence and begin to rebuild my life."