On Monday four youths from the north side - 21 year old Mathew Stock, 21 year old Nancy Gomez, 19 year old Adrian Balderamos, and 19 year old Frederick Gomez were charged with drug trafficking. On Sunday night they were allegedly busted in an apartment on Newtown Barracks with six and a half kilos or roughly 15 pounds of marijuana stuffed in a kit bag. The four are out on bail but are facing mandatory jail time if convicted. That is because under the law – the penalty for a conviction of drug trafficking for more than 5 kilos of marijuana is 3 to 10 years in prison.
Three of the accused; Mathew Stock, Nancy Gomez, and Adrian Balderamos are being represented by attorney Michael Peyrefitte. Today he discussed their position with us.
Michael Peyrefitte, Attorney for Accused
“Four people were charged and I represent three of them and they were all with drug trafficking and they were also charged for being in possession of pipes used for the smoking of illegal drugs so that has been the charge so far against them. The defense will largely depend on what evidence is produced by the police. As you know in all these cases, no evidence has been produced so far, no disclosure has been given, and we probably won’t get any disclosure
for several months.
At this stage we don’t know what evidence they will bring but based on the conversations I’ve had with people including the accused persons, it would be interesting to see what evidence they will bring, especially if they want to prove possession by these four people.”
Keith Swift,
“Can you tell us if all four were in the house at the time?”
Michael Peyrefitte,
“Well I don’t want to get into too much detail of it because I want to reserve it. The onus is not on us to prove the innocence of the accused, the onus is on the crown to prove their guilt so I have certain facts that I believe are true and I will see how the crown’s evidence matches up to that. But it will be interesting to see what evidence they will bring based on what I know of what supposedly transpired at the place.”
Keith Swift,
“We’ve had instances where when there is a number of persons charged for drug trafficking, one would plead guilty and the others walk. Any possibility of that happening?”
Michael Peyrefitte,
“Well we have not even discussed that. I don’t know of many cases, you seem to know more than me, of where anybody is willing to admit to be in possession of approximately 20 pounds of marijuana because under the law, you cannot be fined for that and there is an exception under the Misuse of Drugs Act that if you are found with less than 5 kilos of marijuana, notwithstanding that there is a penalty of prison and a fine, that the Magistrate can use her discretion to charge only a fine. In this case it is over 5 kilograms, 6 and a half kilograms, so I believe that the Magistrate’s hands will be tied and it would prevent the Magistrate from imposing a fine. So in a case like this I can’t imagine anybody would want to say that they are guilty. It is a hell of an offense.”
Keith Swift,
“How are your clients coping, they are not usually in a position like this, being arrested and taking to court?”
Michael Peyrefitte,
“Well I don’t know the history of their lives but anyone who is charged with an offense, especially an offense like drug trafficking, and even drug possession, but drug trafficking, any person charged I imagine will be distraught and I have never been charged with those things before but I can imagine it must be a tough thing to deal with. Your reputation is on the line, most importantly, and with that type of charge if found guilty you can go to prison. So it cannot be easy for them but from my discussion with them they have declared unequivocally their innocence and so I can say there is some relief in them that they are innocence but in a court of law it is all about the evidence so when the evidence comes we will so.”
Along with the jail time, there can also be a fine of up to $100,000. The penalty for drug trafficking for more than a kilo of cocaine, opium, or heroin is also mandatory jail time of 3 to ten years. Attorney Richard Dickie Bradley is representing the fourth defendant Frederick Gomez. They were released on $8,000 bail and are due back in court on March 3rd.
