A strong and passionate mitigating plea from defense counsel Gina Abraham-Thomas assisted 20-year-old Kerry Graham of Thibaud not getting a custodial sentence after he pleaded guilty to a charge of drug trafficking.
Facts
Members of the Drugs Squad armed with a search warrant went to the home of Kerry Graham in Veille Case. On arrival, after the warrant was shown and read the officers met Neil Bellot, Graham, and Anthony Williams and the search party found five (5) nylon bags and one (1) carry-on bag with what appeared to be marijuana.
Woman Police Constable Kayanner St. Hilaire in whose name the warrant was, questioned the men about the contents of the bag but none took responsibility. They were all arrested and taken to police headquarters. According to police prosecutor corporal Dale LeBlanc, further investigations continued on June 24, 2022, where the drugs were weighed and totaled 63,626.6 grams.
Samples of the drugs were taken and sent to the government analysis for testing and its report returned “positive” for marijuana. All three men were charged for “trafficking of drugs” and at the Magistrate’s Court, Bellot and Williams were represented by attorney at law Joshua Francis pleaded “not guilty” and Graham “guilty” the prosecution then withdrew the charge against Bellot and Williams.
Mitigation plea
Defense lawyer Gina Abraham-Thomas told the court, that her client is “very young aged 20 and was just entering the second floor of his life.”
“He has pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, did not waste the court’s time, and is also a first-time offender, the facts also indicate, that he has fully cooperated with the police,” she told the court.
“We are asking the court to consider the offense for which he is charged and take into consideration the direction in which the world is going regarding cannabis, and while we acknowledge that it is still illegal in Dominica, the drugs in themselves, can have a lot of positive benefits.”
She begged the court to “consider the purpose of sentencing which is not to punish the offender” but to also offer “rehabilitation and reintegration of the offender back into society.”
“Temper justice with mercy and take a chance on this young man and give him an opportunity to put his wrong right. He has slipped, but we do believe there is still much hope, that, if given the opportunity, he can do much better,” Abraham-Thomas told the court.
She also told the court that in following the “sentencing guidelines” her client is entitled to discounts for his “early guilty plea, a first-time offender and others.” She asked the court to issue a “use its discretion, impose a low fine with time to pay.”
But Magistrate Michael Laudat interjected and stated that the court is convinced, that 63, 626.6 grams of cannabis is “clearly for financial purposes.”
Sentencing
Magistrate Laudat said that having heard the mitigating plea from his lawyer, 63,626.6 grams of cannabis “is a serious drug trafficking offense and is convinced that Graham knew about the drugs and played a significant role because of financial gains.”
“The court did an assessment of the weight of the drugs, and it falls in the category of (1) one because it’s more than 400 grams,” the Magistrate said.
“He pleaded guilty and has shown remorse the law says a fine of $150,000.00 or three times the street value and or imprisonment.”
He explained that taking all the factors into consideration, the sentence of the court is $35,000.00 to be paid in the following installments, $10,000.00 to be paid by November 30, 2022, in default (six) 6 months jail, $15,000.00 to be paid by May 31, 2023, in default six (6) months jail and $10,000.00 to be paid by December 31, 2023, in default six (6) months jail.
The drugs have an estimated street value of $140,140.00.
He ordered that the drugs be “destroyed.”