Safe travels. Welcome back!

Hey guys. What a day. Well, ultimately the Judge was full of common sense and mercy. The short of it is I was given no jail time and a $6,000 fine. Seems crazy that I had to wait this long to pay a fine I would have paid on day one. She based her decision on precedent, decency and on some very good character reference letters I submitted. But I cannot discount how good my lawyer was. He was qualified and embarrassed the Prosecution. There is a lot I want to say but I will wait until I get home. Thank you for the support. I will post more when I am on US soil.

Woo hoo!

Amazing. Christmas in May...

Hurry home

Wonderful news Dave.

Happiness is the Turks/Caicos in the rear view mirror, so to speak.

May you have a great flight on the Freedom Bird.
.

Praise God and Jesus Christ. Prayers answered.

Welcome home. FWIW, I’m never, ever visiting that place even if it’s free.

Thank God, safe return for everyone.

Glad to hear that you're free Dave.
But I am angered at this grossly unjust business. A substantial fine, forced month and a half of living expense as a tourist, unplanned additional airfare for family support, and attorney expenses all for an innocent inconsequential oversight.

Glad you’re cleared from the threat of incarceration but am appalled at the fine; $6k seems like shakedown money to me for what was obviously a simple mistake. I sincerely hope you deprive them of future income well in excess of said fine by vacationing elsewhere.

6,000 dollar for a charge that generally carries a mandatory twelve year sentence is not unexpected. The guy who ran his boat aground in their waters with 15 guns and and 8,000 rounds got fined 20,000, and that was when the minimum sentence was seven years and taking into account he was living on a disability cheque. I wouldn't have been surprised at a five-digit number here, either, but the comparatively miniscule amount of ammo in question clearly reduced the fine, too.

The best news!

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Glad to hear that you're free Dave.
But I am angered at this grossly unjust business. A substantial fine, forced month and a half of living expense as a tourist, unplanned additional airfare for family support, and attorney expenses all for an innocent inconsequential oversight.

Yes. The Judge started at $10k and reduced it to 6800 due to expediency and then to 5700 due to good character. That is not even close to the true cost of this mistake. Between attorney, rent, food and transportation I am north of $100k. So when she stated the fine it seemed like nothing. At least I will be getting the $40k in bail back I'm surprisingly not that upset at the moment about the money. I am excited to be going home.

Amazing, in all aspects. Congrats.

Freedom! Great news!

That was an incredible painful ordeal and mistake but thank God you are coming home! I bet there is not better feeling.

quote:

I'm surprisingly not that upset at the moment about the money. I am excited to be going home.

Like the old saying " I don't want any cheese, I just want out of the trap"

Glad it worked out..

I am sitting here in the lobby of the hotel and I leave for the train station to head home soon. I was thinking about Dave and said a prayer. Glad common sense and sanity won out. Safe travels back and welcome back to the states.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
Glad to hear that you're free Dave.
But I am angered at this grossly unjust business. A substantial fine, forced month and a half of living expense as a tourist, unplanned additional airfare for family support, and attorney expenses all for an innocent inconsequential oversight.

But, it makes me wonder how many people per year get the same treatment.

And
Will it deter further situations like his mistake?

Do they have 90 people per month getting jailed for his similar infraction?
Or
Nine people per year ?

As attractive as foreign travel may be, you don't need to go far outside our borders to have threats to your freedom.

That's not limited to countries that are obvious enemies or considered dangerous.

Great to hear that some amount of sanity finally prevailed, even if it was at great cost.

So where are you planning your next vacation?