NEW YORK, May 25 (UPI) -- In a move that some observers believe was motivated by a desire to avoid excessively punishing criminals, a New York City judge on Wednesday decided to give a convicted drug offender probation instead of prison -- saying the consequences of her guilty verdict will be punishment enough.
Federal District Court Judge Frederic Block issued the sentence in Brooklyn Wednesday against a 20-year-old woman who was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport last year with more than 600 grams of cocaine in her luggage. She was ultimately convicted of illegal possession with intent to distribute.