Ari Budiman Sunardi, the lawyer representing Brit Julian Anthony Ponder, has confirmed that his client will not be appealing a 6-year prison sentence handed down by the Denpasar District Court on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.
Arie told Kompas.com that he was both pleased and satisfied that his client received a sentence less than the 7 year demanded by State Prosecutors. Adding: “I am hapy and I will recommend to my client to not pursue an appeal because his sentence is close to the minimum sentence of five years required by the law.”
Momentarily disappointed with the sentence given by the court, Julian Ponder eventually accepted his lawyer’s advice and accepted the sentence for simple possession, managing to escape further legal entanglement with the 4.7 kilograms of cocaine brought by Lindsay June Sandiford who has been sentenced to death.
In the end, the judge's only charged Ponder with possession of 21.68 grams of cocaine found at his residence on May 25, 2012 when police undertook a raid in connection with the earlier arrest of Sandiford.
Sandiford gave the police Ponder’s name as the man who told her to carry drugs from Bangkok to Bali. Also arrested by police were Ponder’s wife, Rachel Lisa Dougall, Paul Beales and Nanda Gopal.
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