A US drug mule caught with cannabis in LF Wade International Airport has been freed after his sentence was slashed on appeal.

Rodney Small, 30, must wait for travel arrangements to be made — but the Supreme Court has deemed his time spent in custody sufficient for the January 31 smuggling offence.

The Elizabeth, New Jersey resident was a minor player in the scheme, desperate for money and claiming his mother was being evicted from home, according to defence lawyer Peter Sanderson.

Small was searched by Bermuda Customs after arriving from New York’s JFK airport. An X-ray showed he had swallowed 48 pellets of cannabis resin, adding up to “just short of 500g” of the drug, Mr Sanderson said.

On April 9, Small was sentenced in Magistrates’ Court to three years’ imprisonment.

“He had been approached before and said no, but was then tempted because of difficult circumstances,” Mr Sanderson told Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons, arguing that Small had been a minor player in the plot.

“Put simply, he was someone used to come in and deliver.”

In relation to cannabis, he added: “Times are moving on. We have members of both the governing and Opposition parties saying the status of cannabis needs to be revisited.”

Citing “changing social attitudes”, he said cannabis was not seen as a drug having the most harmful social consequences, and said Small should be entitled to an 18-month sentence reduced to 12 months.

Mr Sanderson referred to the case of Vincent Hewey, a drug mule who last year opted to abandon a bag containing 2,156g of cannabis at the airport. He was later caught and sentenced to 18 months, but had his term cut by one-third on appeal.

The current UK sentencing range for possession of up to 20kg of cannabis is typically 18 months to three years, Mr Sanderson added.

However, prosecutor Nicole Smith pointed out that the UK regime for personal use was “quite advanced”, adding: “Here in Bermuda we are just beginning to have that debate.”

In Bermuda, cases such as Small’s generally attract one year’s imprisonment per 100g of cannabis, she said.

Noting that the range was “not cast in stone and not a law”, Mrs Justice Simmons said Chief Justice Ian Kawaley’s directions on cannabis offences indicated a more appropriate range of 18 months to three years for Small.

Giving him one-third off for his early guilty plea, Mrs Justice Simmons then took into account Small’s previous clean record, his remorse and his minor role in the plot — plus his status as a foreign national, which meant he wouldn’t be entitled to early release.

Accordingly, she reduced Small’s sentence to time spent in custody, or just under one year.

“The appellant is entitled to immediate release from custody, save for such arrangements that have to be made for his voluntary removal or deportation,” she added.