It made headlines in June of 2004 when three young men in a Mercedes Benz were busted with $180,000 on Partridge Street in the Lake Independence Area. Well today the Chief Justice ordered the Police department to repay all $180,000 to Caryl "Midget" Meighan, Anthony Williams, and Joseph Garbutt.
The three were busted on June 10th of last year (See Busted in Benz with 100gs) and the money, which was in 100 and 50 dollar notes, was found on the floor of the Benz. All three were originally charged with money laundering and in September of last year the police added a charge of unlawful possession of property. But before they went to trial in November, the DPP's Office withdrew the money laundering charge and half-way through the trial for unlawful possession of property, their attorney Richard "Dickie" Bradley made a no case submission to Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord. Lord accepted and in November of last year he threw out the case and made an order for the money to be returned.
That never happened because DPP Kirk Anderson appealed to Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh. The CJ heard arguments in September and this morning ruled that police needed and never had reasonable suspicion that the money was unlawfully obtained to prove unlawful possession. So he upheld Lord's ruling and more than that, he ordered that the $180,000 be returned plus interest. He didn't indicate at what rate of interest.
