Acquitted On One Count: Thompson Drug Trial
[Updated] The jury in the trial of a former Customs Officer charged with conspiring to import over $50,000 worth of cannabis is now deliberating.
36-year-old Bromwin Thompson of Granaway Heights in Southampton was charged with two counts of conspiring to import cannabis; and one count of possessing illegal drugs with intent to supply.
During the trial, evidence was given alleging that Mr Thompson was involved with a person named Shannon Berkley, 42, and both were involved in the importation of cannabis.
The charges were that Mr Thompson was, as Justice Greaves later ad-libbed, the midwife in an operation that saw Mr Thompson use his position as a Bermuda Customs Officer to intercept packages that had been sent to Bermuda.
Mr Thompson was working at the FedEx Facility on Serpentine Road in Pembroke when the alleged incidents took place in 2009. Evidence was offered that FedEx packages addressed to two restaurant had been used to send in the drugs, with the restaurant management saying they did not order the packages. The total value of drugs involved was said to be around $54,000.
The seven woman five man jury is now deliberating…..
Update 3:45pm: The counts on ‘corruption and possession were dropped’. Only the two counts of conspiracy to import stand. The jury came back without unanimous verdicts on the two counts. The jury is now being re-directed to come back with a majority verdict on which nine are agreed.
Update 4:47pm: The jury is still deliberating.
Update 5:55pm: The jury did not make a decision on Count One, and came back with a not guilty verdict on Count Two. Supporters of Mr Thompson seemed very happy with the verdict, with Mr Thompson greeted by hugs from people gathered as he walked out the courtroom.
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Can’t wait to hear what the pundits have to say once a jury verdict is given. Amazing.
On your mark, get set, ready, Go.
Verdict in In
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LET MY BOY GO FREE!!! YA’LL KNOW HE IS INOCENT!!
If you believe that, I have a couple of bridges for sale… The jury system sucks!!!!!
So was O.J.
WHATEVER!! My boy is innocent and thats that. Save your comments for someone who cares!! FREE BUNZI!!!
And Victor Newman is real………
Without wishing to pre judge the verdict, it has so far again shown that in Bermuda you are more likely to get off if your case is serious enough to go to Supreme Court than if you get busted for petty simple possession of .5 grams. Give me a Bermuda jury any time over a Magistrate. The penalty from Magistrates Court in no way matches the crime for an offence that has no victime except oneself.
Maybe we should dispose of the jury system as those pesky people don’t have a clue as to what they should do, unlike the punters at Bernews. What evidence do you have that wasnt before the court?
If you accept a guilty verdict you HAVE to then accept the not guilty verdict. How can the jury system be ok when someone is found gulity but then you question the not guilty verdicts? Then everyone in Westgate or CoEd has been wrongly convicted.
preach preach preach ! thumbs up
Just Sayyn,
Don’t know if you have ever had the honor of serving on a Jury…. I’m looking at over a dozen and would gladly do it again.
Of those cases I’d say maybe three or four that I would say there wasn’t enugh evedince to convict. The problem is Bermuda is too small for the Jury system to be effective, people don’t want to be seen by the accused’s family, friends… Or are just to scared for their own family…
We either need to look a pannel of judges or bring in a jury from overseas (for big cases). The Police and the AG’s Chambers are doing a good job, it’s us that fail them in the courts.
Jury of your peers….. Bin there….. of your peers. I commend you for your service.
Do you wanna go back to the jury rigging (it was called that for a reason) of the not so distant past.
Trial by jury is a fundamental premise of our judical system, maybe the police and AG need to step up their games? As one who has many experiences as a juror you do know the trial judge can set aside verdicts if the case is that clear?
Maybe just maybe, thinking out of the [] here……..that it is a statistical impossibility that everyone who goes before the courts is actually guilty.
Is the system perfect?
Is any?
Jury rigging or tampeing< along with witness tampering and intimidation is a problem! With an island this small what would you expect< I have to respect people that come forward and give evidence, for whatever reason, they take their lives (and that of their familys, lives in their hands…
I have to agree with WTF
that lawyer Charles Richardson is slowing racking up some big victories !
That is so true! He is such an excellent role model for the future lawyers of Bermuda. Keep up the good work Mr. Richardson
therer is enough circumstantial evidence to raise suspicion, but nothing to physically link him directly to a crime. They should have waited until they had the receiver with the physical package and then used him to record a meeting with the good customs officer
Juries should be brought in from overseas…
Bermudians are way too scared to convict!!
he should do time for owning a jacket that tacky.
Yeah….If the drug laws don’t get him then the fashion laws will….and he should get extra time for that tie.
Yes bonzi bless ya heart. They cant keep a good mon down seen
I hope that he is truly innocent. But the fact of the matter is that in order to bring drugs into this island you must have people in a position of authority working in certain places to ‘look the other way’. Even if you have scannners etc… it won’t matter if the person is looking the other way. That is the way it has always been. The scanners will catch the ‘small’ individuals while the BIG boys will always be able to get stuff through.