WORLD : Smuggler Spared From Death
A Thai court sentenced a 19-year-old British teen-ager to 25 years in prison today for trafficking in more than 57 pounds of high-grade heroin, citing her age and confession as reasons to lighten the normal sentence--death.
“The evidence showed without doubt that the defendant is guilty of the charges,” said the ruling by the two-judge court.
When the judges announced the prison sentence, defendant Karyn Joanne Smith, from Birmingham, England, burst into tears. “We were prepared, but it was still a shock,” said the teen-ager’s mother, Marilyn.
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