The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAGISTRATE deferred the sentencing of a pregnant woman convicted yesterday for her part in possessing $1 million worth of marijuana found in an apartment leased in her name.

However, Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell told 27-year-old Quintessa Rolle’s attorney, that she was not inclined to grant bail or a non-custodial sentence as she believed the Franklyn Avenue resident may be a flight risk.

Rolle, along with 20-year-old Anthony Johnson, 22-year-old Mark Cash, and 29-year-old Leonardo McKenzie appeared before the deputy chief magistrate yesterday awaiting her verdict in their nearly two-year-old $1 million drug case.

In the end, Rolle was convicted and her three co-accused were acquitted and discharged.

The four faced a charge of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply claimed to have occurred on January 22, 2010. All four denied the charges at their arraignment three days after the arrest following the guilty plea of co-accused Mark Johnson.

Johnson, of Ocean View Drive, who was 41 at the time, pleaded guilty to the charge at the arraignment when he told the court that he had hidden the 18 crocus sacks of marijuana in his home some three weeks before the police searched the Western New Providence home.

Johnson was convicted and sentenced to four years imprisonment as well as a $10,000, which according to the court, has already been served and paid.

In yesterday’s proceedings, the magistrate gave a brief overview of the evidence before handing down her ruling.

According to the evidence the police arrived at the Ocean View Drive home around 5am armed with a search warrant for drugs. After gaining entry through force, the five were discovered in the home.

Rolle and Mark Johnson were found in a master bedroom where the drugs were found while the others in another room. Officers further searched the dressers of the master bedroom where they found several female items of clothing along with a passport and apartment lease in the name of the female accused.

All accused in their interviews with police denied having knowledge of the drugs or having resided at the residence. Rolle claimed that she had slept over for one night.

During trial, the four accused presented a witness, Mark Johnson, who testified on their behalf.

However, in yesterday’s ruling, Deputy Chief Magistrate Bethell said she did not accept the evidence of the defence witness.

She said that the prosecution’s evidence against Rolle was strong. She agreed with police witnesses that too much clothing was found at the home for an overnight stay.

The magistrate, however, said that the prosecution had not provided enough proof concerning Rolle’s co-accused and their connection to 990 pounds of marijuana valued at $1.16 million.

Cash, McKenzie and Johnson were acquitted and discharged while Rolle was convicted.

Stanley Rolle, who represented all four defendants, asked that the court consider an alternative punishment for his client who is five months pregnant, who until yesterday, had no previous convictions or pending matters before the courts.

He noted that there have been recent cases, though for different offences, where convicts were either fined or given a probation. He could not at the time, however, provide a filed copy of such decisions.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Bethell said there has been occasion when a pregnant convict was sent to prison. She also noted that the seriousness of the offence warranted some form of custodial punishment.

After the magistrate dismissed the idea of bail, she said she could order a probation report for the convict. Though she noted that it would take at least six weeks, she said his client would be remanded in any event as she feared that Rolle might be a flight risk.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Bethell deferred sentencing to January 25, 2013 when a probation report would be presented to the court. In the meantime, she asked the attorney to find the cases to which he referred during his mitigation plea.