An American, arrested in the Turks and Caicos Islands after four rounds of ammunition were found in his luggage, will be spared any prison time, a judge ruled on Friday.
With time served and if he pays a $2,000 fine, or $500 for each round, Ryan Watson could be headed home to Oklahoma later on Friday.
He was arrested in April in the island getaway under the territory’s firearms law raised the specter of a possible 12-year prison sentence.
Two other cases of Americans detained under similar circumstances recently ended with judges granting those men leniency.
In finding that there were exceptional circumstances to justify a no-prison punishment, Justice Lobban Jackson said 12 years behind bars would be “arbitrary and disproportionately” harsh.
The judge also said she considered the statements of more than a dozen character witnesses who vouched for Watson.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Faith N
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.