Client avoids full-time jail and instead gets an ICO after pleading guilty to supplying large commercial quantity of drugs

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Our 23-year old client from Moree was pulled over by police for speeding and having a defected vehicle. Police searched his car and then searched him, resulting in multiple charges of deemed supply of mushrooms cannabis, possession go mushroom and cannabis, and possession go drug equipment. He was then subjected by police to an oral fluid sample, which resulted in a further charge of drug driving.

The quantity of mushrooms that our client was deemed to have supplied was over the large commercial quantity (297 grams of psilocybin). The cannabis fell within the small quantity (134 grams of cannabis leaf).

Our client was initially bail refused by both the police and the courts, largely due to the seriousness and quantity of drugs.

Upon review by our managing lawyer Tayla Regan, the police brief of evidence revealed text exchanges to friends showing prior drug supply transactions, and our client made admissions in his police interview to selling or ‘giving away’ drugs that had been in his possession.

In terms of the cannabis, our client had a serious addiction and would personally consume a large portion of the drug. With respect to the mushrooms, our client picked these by hand from a paddock, and kept them in his vehicle for a few weeks prior to detection by police.

Our Tayla Regan spoke with the DPP and negotiated a plea deal. Extensive negotiations took place over days in an effort to get the best possible outcome for our client and to avoid full time jail given the strength of the prosecution evidence and seriousness of the charges.

Our client was eventually committed to the District Court for Sentence.

After thorough planning and preparation of the case for sentence, our Tayla Regan made lengthy verbal submissions to the District Court Judge in efforts to convince the court to not send our client to full time imprisonment given his strong subjective features. This is despite the prosecution opposing our submissions, and instead arguing that full time jail is warranted.

Ultimately, after careful deliberation, the District Court Judge felt that our client had spent enough time in custody, despite the large commercial quantity involved. The court imposed an Intensive Corrections Order (ICO) for 13 months and our client was immediately released from custody to begin his journey to recovery, with the support of his family. This was an exceptional outcome due to the very serious nature of the charges involving large commercial quantity of drugs.

Published on 20/08/2021