Psychadelic_Paisly
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2003
- Messages
- 2,442
Drug runner's case to be reviewed
The link you seek is HERE
30mar04
A convicted drug runner could have his sentence cut after the High Court found errors in the way his appeal was handled.
In a judgment handed down today, the court ordered the West Australian Court of Criminal Appeal to reconsider the case of Chad Johnson, 25, who was charged with drug offences after an Australian Federal Police (AFP) sting operation in November 2000.
The court heard Johnson's co-accused, Jurgen Helmut Schwarz, was arrested as he arrived in Perth from Indonesia in November 2000 carrying 5533 ecstasy tablets and almost 1.5kg of cocaine.
Schwarz agreed to participate in a controlled delivery of material substituted for the confiscated drugs.
He checked into a hotel in the Perth suburb of Como with Johnson then arriving to make the collection.
AFP officers arrested him as he left the hotel room.
Also arrested was Phillip David Smart who was waiting with $10,688 cash in Johnson's sister's car outside the hotel.
Johnson was charged with attempting to obtain a commercial quantity of ecstasy and attempting to obtain a trafficable quantity of cocaine. He pleaded guilty in the WA Supreme Court.
Justice Graeme Scott said the appropriate sentence was 10 years' jail on the first charge and five years on the second, with the sentences to be served cumulatively.
After taking into account the totality principle and his early guilty plea, Johnson was sentenced to 11 years, with a 5-year non-parole period.
He appealed to the WA Court of Criminal Appeal, arguing that insufficient allowance was made for the fact that the offences arose from a single course of conduct.
The appeal was dismissed and he turned to the High Court.
The High Court unanimously held that the two offences had much in common, including one inducement, one payment, one occasion, one package and one receipt of it, and that the appeals court made factual errors in its reasoning.
The High Court unanimously allowed the appeal and sent the case back to the WA Court of Criminal Appeal for reconsideration of Johnson's sentence.
The link you seek is HERE
30mar04
A convicted drug runner could have his sentence cut after the High Court found errors in the way his appeal was handled.
In a judgment handed down today, the court ordered the West Australian Court of Criminal Appeal to reconsider the case of Chad Johnson, 25, who was charged with drug offences after an Australian Federal Police (AFP) sting operation in November 2000.
The court heard Johnson's co-accused, Jurgen Helmut Schwarz, was arrested as he arrived in Perth from Indonesia in November 2000 carrying 5533 ecstasy tablets and almost 1.5kg of cocaine.
Schwarz agreed to participate in a controlled delivery of material substituted for the confiscated drugs.
He checked into a hotel in the Perth suburb of Como with Johnson then arriving to make the collection.
AFP officers arrested him as he left the hotel room.
Also arrested was Phillip David Smart who was waiting with $10,688 cash in Johnson's sister's car outside the hotel.
Johnson was charged with attempting to obtain a commercial quantity of ecstasy and attempting to obtain a trafficable quantity of cocaine. He pleaded guilty in the WA Supreme Court.
Justice Graeme Scott said the appropriate sentence was 10 years' jail on the first charge and five years on the second, with the sentences to be served cumulatively.
After taking into account the totality principle and his early guilty plea, Johnson was sentenced to 11 years, with a 5-year non-parole period.
He appealed to the WA Court of Criminal Appeal, arguing that insufficient allowance was made for the fact that the offences arose from a single course of conduct.
The appeal was dismissed and he turned to the High Court.
The High Court unanimously held that the two offences had much in common, including one inducement, one payment, one occasion, one package and one receipt of it, and that the appeals court made factual errors in its reasoning.
The High Court unanimously allowed the appeal and sent the case back to the WA Court of Criminal Appeal for reconsideration of Johnson's sentence.