Loading ...Woman Who Found Drugs in the Change Slot Pardoned by Jury
Bjorn Brunvand did his part to ensure that a woman who found two rocks of crack cocaine in a telephone coin slot was pardoned by a jury of her peers (Florida vs. Bryant).
Kelly T. Bryant of Clearwater might think twice before doing the right thing again.
Bryant, a 24-year-old day care center worker was jailed June 16 by Clearwater police for cocaine possession along North Greenwood Avenue. She was found possessing two pieces of crack cocaine.
She had found the rocks in a pay telephone change slot after she tried to make a call. She said she was going to turn in the drugs at the department’s Greenwood substation, an estimated 1,000 feet from the telephone.
What Bryant didn’t know is that police found the rocks first – after seeing several youths run from the area of the phone – and put them back, deciding to set up surveillance to see who picked them up. Bryant was arrested when she told a police officer who was walking toward her of her find.
Even her lawyer, Bjorn Brunvand, agrees that, technically, Bryant was guilty. She knew the substance was cocaine, and she took the rocks into her possession. That’s the law in Florida – knowledge and possession, prosecutors stressed.
So, legally, she was guilty, right?
Wrong. Last week a Pinellas County jury cleared her of the charge.
“My client was trying to do what the police should have done in the first place,” Brunvand said. “It’s a case of a jury pardon. To me, that’s the reason for having a jury system.”
A Tampa Tribune Staff Report