Randy James Parchment was an inmate at Northward Prison with five years left on a firearms sentence when he was sentenced to 30 months more for possession of ganja with intent to supply.[1] Parchment pleaded guilty to the ganja offence.[1] He had been sentenced in 2016 to seven years for possessing a handgun and a concurrent seven years for possessing unlicensed ammunition.[1]
Parchment was transported to a medical appointment at Cayman Islands Hospital and asked to use the restroom.[1] After leaving the restroom, police noticed he was walking strangely and found a package secured inside his pants.[1] The package held three phones, three phone chargers, cigarette paper and .38 kilograms of matter later proved to be ganja.[1] The cigarette paper was presented as evidence that Parchment intended to sell the ganja at Northward.[1]
Defence counsel asked Magistrate Valdis Foldats to credit the early guilty plea and consider totality at sentencing.[1] Magistrate Foldats said Northward drug-smuggling cases had come before him, but this was the first where the alleged smuggler was a prisoner.[1] The magistrate set three years as the starting point with no mitigating factors, added two years for aggravating factors, then applied a one-third discount for the early guilty plea to reach 40 months.[1] After adding a triggered six-month suspended sentence, the magistrate reduced the total of 46 months to a final 30 months because Parchment still had five years to serve on the firearms charge.[1]
