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Leona was from London, and she had many school friends with family connections in Jamaica. She had been invited to visit the island by one of these friends, who had offered to pay for her air ticket and provide her with a hotel room for the duration of her stay. On the last night she was there, she had been entertaining some people in her hotel room when one of them "accidentally" sat on her suitcase, breaking it irreparably. 'Don't worry,' he'd told her, apologizing profusely.' I'll get you a new one.'
The next day he arrived with a new suitcase - problem solved and no charge.
Like I say, naïve.
She packed her things and flew off to London via Miami that evening. At Miami airport the customs officer examined the case and found a false panel hiding a compartment containing 6kg of cocaine.
Several times while I was with Leona she got up and ran out of the interview room, slamming the door closed behind her, only to come flying back in again seconds later crying that she wanted to go home. My attempts to calm her down were futile, and eventually the guard came and escorted her back to her cell.
One of the things I was able to do for her was find her a good lawyer, paid for by her distraught parents. Miami -based attorney Sydney Smith was a Londoner who had moved to Florida many years before and who now specialized in criminal defense. He could be an abrasive character who sometimes unsettled even his own clients with his direct and perfunctory manner. He wasn't the right lawyer for everyone, but he was known for one thing; if h believed in his client, he would fight hard for them.
About three months later the case went to trial.
Smith had recommended to Leona that she turn down the deal the prosecution was offering - six years in jail if she pleaded guilty. This was not a bad deal for six Kilos, and I doubt there were many attorneys in Florida who would have gone to trial - if convicted she would be looking at 15 years in federal prison. But Smith had testicles of titanium. The trial lasted several days, at the conclusion Leona Murray was acquitted - I'm pretty sure that, during my tenure in Orlando, this was the only drug case in Florida involving a British Citizen that went to trial and ended in an acquittal.
She was released from prison that day and flew to London the next night. I never saw her again, and she never contacted the consulate after her return to the UK. I suspect that her family never made a better investment in their lives that Smith's legal fees.
Reproduced with permission from the author.
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