While upholding the constitutionality of the mandatory minimum three-year sentence for ganja trafficking, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow has ruled that magistrates do have the discretion to impose lighter sentences where special circumstances may warrant.
The judge made the ruling upon an application by Vinnette James on her own behalf and that of her nephew Dellon St. Hill, who was sentenced last July to three years’ imprisonment after being found guilty by Magistrate Peter Hugh of trafficking 281 grams of cannabis.
The application, presented by attorney Eusi Anderson, sought to challenge the constitutionality of the sentence, arguing, among other things, that the mandatory minimum three-year sentence for narcotic trafficking was null, void and of no legal effect insofar as it sought to abrogate the doctrine of separation of powers.
