He was dragged to court along with 8 other persons for being in possession of over a kilo of marijuana. But tonight, 37-year-old Carden Lewis is alone facing a 3-year prison sentence. That's after he told the court that the weed was his.
At around 7:30 on Wednesday morning, police were on mobile patrol at the junction of the George Price Highway and the Coastal Road. They stopped a pick-up truck that seemed to be in a hurry. 7 men were in the pan, and 2 others in the front, and police felt they were acting suspiciously.
When police searched the pick-up, they found a black plastic bag, which contained, 1.074 kilos - or 2.3 pounds - of marijuana, tucked behind the front passenger seat.
Those 9 men, including Carden Lewis, were then escorted to the police station, where they were all jointly charged with drug trafficking.
They were all arraigned today before Chief Magistrate Sharon Frazer, and after the charge was read to all of them, Carden Lewis pleaded guilty. He was trying to convince the court that this should be a drug possession charge, but the Chief Magistrate told him that the offense before her is drug trafficking.
He maintained his guilty plea, and that's when Chief Magistrate Frazer explained to him that a conviction of this offense carries a mandatory minimum fine of $10,00 and a prison sentence of 3 years. She asked him if he understood that, and if he wanted to maintain that guilty plea. He insisted, and so she did not impose the $10,000 fine on him. Instead, she sentenced him to spend 3 years in jail.
After the court accepted Lewis' guilty plea, the charges were withdrawn against the other 8 defendants. His relative, Keith Lewis, owed the court a previous fine of $255 dollars, which he couldn't pay, and so, a warrant was prepared for him to also serve 6 months in default.
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