The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN on trial in connection with a 130lb marijuana seizure must wait two weeks before hearing the magistrate’s verdict.

In yesterday’s proceedings before Deputy Chief Magistrate Carolita Bethell, 20-year-old Justin Turnquest appeared to learn whether or not he was found guilty of possession of dangerous drugs with intent to supply.

However, the magistrate said she was not prepared to hand down the ruling and adjourned the matter to February 22.

In November 2011, Turnquest, of Wulff Road, was charged along with 26-year-old Derez Cartwright of Garden Hills 1.

The pair were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez on one count of drug possession with the intent to supply and two counts of possession of ammunition.

It is claimed that on November 26, 2011 the men were in possession of 130 pounds go Indian Hemp and six live rounds of ammunition at a home on Geranium Avenue.

After Cartwright’s early admission of guilt and claim of ownership of the narcotics and ammunition, the chief magistrate sentenced him to serve four years at Her Majesty’s Prison, the minimum possible sentence.

Turnquest pleaded not guilty, but the prosecution did not withdraw the charges against him, as they did for the third initial defendant, Alicia Cartwright.

In January, his attorney, Christina Galanos, responded with a no-case submission, saying the evidence was vague, inconsistent and of “tenuous character”.

She said the Crown failed to prove that her client and the other defendant were acting together or were in a joint enterprise and argued that her client should have no case to answer.

Prosecutor ASP Ercel Dorsett responded, saying officers found a large quantity of drugs in open sight in the Garden Hills home.

He said when the defendant was interviewed, he told police that he was helping to package the drugs.

ASP Dorsett said there was no way the defendant could deny knowledge of the drugs based on his statement and his having been found in the home where the drugs were in plain sight.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Bethell ruled, on January 4, that Turnquest did have a case to answer.

Turnquest denied having anything to do with the drugs, the packaging of them, and also denied having an intention to supply.

The case has been adjourned to February 22.