Midwest was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday for trying to smuggle cocaine into Bermuda.

Terri Lynn Washington, 23, was caught at Bermuda Airport with $130,000 worth of the drug taped to her body after arriving on a flight from New York on December 30.

Mr. Archie Warner, Washington's lawyer, described the single woman who was born and raised in Indianapolis as "a nice, likeable young lady'' who fell in with a bad crowd when she moved to New York state and made "a horrible mistake''.

Wiping away tears, Washington stood in the Supreme Court dock and begged for mercy.

"I've never had to experience this or any other crime, but the system is going to teach me something I should have learned in my 23 years of life,'' she told the court. "Everything that shines is not always gold.'' The court was told that a man she only knew as "The Drake'' promised her $7,000 for carrying just over half a kilo of cocaine to Bermuda. The drug was more than 50 percent pure.

Crown counsel Mr. Brian Calhoun said drug dealers purposely picked innocents as their "mules'' in the hope they would be dealt with leniently.

"Really, niceness has nothing to do with it,'' the Hon. Mr. Justice Ward said before sentencing Washington to seven year terms for importing cocaine and possession of cocaine intended for supply. The terms are to be served concurrently and the time Washington has spent in jail since her arrest will be deducted from her sentence.

Washington told Police arrangements for the delivery "were made by someone that she could not name, describe or identify, and that she was not prepared to assist the Police with any further investigation,'' Mr. Calhoun said.

But Mr. Warner said Washington was unable to help, not unwilling. She gave a description of The Drake and "she was to be met in Bermuda by someone she does not know,'' he said.

Washington fell into "a cycle of poverty'' after she moved to Rochester, New York in 1990, ending up on welfare, Mr. Warner said. Last year, she began studying cosmetology and doing hairdressing on the side.

Because of the friends she met, "apparently this was to be the beginning of her downfall,'' he said.

Washington apologised to both Bermuda and the US "for the disgrace I have caused''.

She said she hoped her experience would be a lesson to others. Mr. Justice Ward said Washington's guilty plea and Mr. Warner's comments lightened the sentence. But due to the quantity and value of the cocaine imported, he said he could give no less than seven years.