Leslie found guilty, to be freed

Leslie found guilty, to be freed

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post/Denpasar

A court here on Friday jailed Australian model Michelle Leslie on
Friday for three months on drugs charges, but she will be freed
within days because of the time she has already spent in
detention.

Leslie's lawyer, Christo Immanuel Dugis, said the three-month
prison term ended on Friday and that the defense was completing
the necessary documents to secure her release.

"Today is the last day of her 90-day prison term. If
everything goes well with the legal documents, then Leslie will
be released sometime tomorrow (Saturday)," he said.

Prosecutor Risman Tarihoran, however, did not see it that way.
He said Leslie had been sentenced to three months in prison, not
exactly 90 days.

"I asked for three months. The sentence says three months, and
three months does not automatically equal 90 days. August and
October comprise 31 days each," he argued.

Tarihoran said that as Leslie had officially been taken into
police custody on Aug. 21, the last day of her three-month term
would be Nov. 21.

"Therefore, she can be released on the morning of Nov. 22," he
said.

Presiding judge I Made Sudia said he expected Leslie to be
released by Monday.

The Denpasar District Court found Leslie guilty of "receiving
a psychotropic substance from an illegal and unauthorized
source".

The verdict brought smiles to Leslie's Australian and
Indonesian lawyers, who for months had tried to get their client
off the primary charge of "possessing, carrying or keeping an
illegal psychotropic substance", which carries up to 15 years in
prison.

Surprisingly, the prosecution dropped the primary charge on
Tuesday, saying there was not enough evidence to support it.

Leslie accepted the verdict in a calm, almost stoical manner.
Following a brief consultation with her lawyers, she addressed
the judges, saying "Your Honors, I accept your decision."

At the end of the trial, she approached the bench and shook
the hands of the judges and the prosecutors before being whisked
away by court officials into the waiting prison van.

The verdict ends a three-month-long ordeal that started in the
early hours of Aug. 20 when police officers searched her handbag
and found two ecstasy pills wrapped in tissue paper.

Leslie has said the pills belonged to her friend, Mia, a claim
that was corroborated by three out of eight witnesses. The rest
of the witnesses did not deny the claim.

The combination of her polite and respectful attitude and her
lawyers' clever legal strategy undoubtedly played a decisive role
in turning the proceedings her way.

The model also showed remorse by apologizing to the Indonesian
authorities and people for causing trouble in their country,
saying it was not intentional.

"She is still young and we should give her the opportunity to
improve herself, to develop her life," presiding judge Sudia
said.

Moreover, by successfully portraying her addiction to
psychotropic substance as being the result of her troubled
relationship with her mother, the defense managed to convince the
court that their client should be given a chance to seek
treatment instead of being incarcerated.

Dozens of foreigners are imprisoned for drug smuggling every
year in Indonesia. Leslie's was the latest in a string of trials
involving Australians in Bali.

Last month, nine Australians went on trial after being
arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs onto a flight from
the island to Sydney.

In May, former beautician Schapelle Corby, 28, was sentenced
to 20 years in jail for smuggling marijuana into Bali. Her case
sparked public outrage in Australia, where many believe she is
innocent.