A Supreme Court judge has reduced the Magistrates' Court prison sentence handed down to a Devonshire man who admitted growing cannabis.

Puisne Judge Norma Wade-Miller on Tuesday cut Anthony Davis' two-year prison sentence in half because a Magistrate failed to give the 29-year-old man a discount for his guilty plea.

Davis, of Cedar Park Road, was ordered to serve a year in prison for possessing cannabis, two years for cultivating cannabis and one month for obstructing Police on March 30, 1997.

Davis was arrested after he admitted that he was growing cannabis plants to Police when they questioned him at his home on March 30, 1997.

Davis refused to show Police the exact location where that plants were stored, but they later found seven cannabis plants growing in five pots.

Defence lawyer Victoria Pearman called the two year prison sentence for growing seven cannabis plants "harsh and excessive''.

And she said Magistrate Edward King failed to give Davis credit for pleading guilty to the charges.

"He is entitled to have the Magistrate consider mitigating factors,'' Ms Pearman said. "It cannot be fair and just for an individual to be given two years for seven plants.'' Crown Counsel Larry Mussenden did not challenge the possession of cannabis appeal but raised issue with the appeal on the cultivation sentence.

Mr. Mussenden said the December, 1997 prison sentence was not harsh or excessive and argued that the Magistrate was right in making Davis' sentence not only punitive, but a deterrent.

And he said that Davis' sentence was well under the maximum penalty -- five years and/or a $10,000 fine -- for cultivating cannabis.

However, Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller pointed out that the law was clear regarding the granting of discounts for defendants who plea guilty to charges.

Mr. Mussenden said that it would be "improper'' to assume that Mr. King did not consider mitigating factors into the cultivating sentence.

Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller ruled that Mr. King "fell into error'' by not taking into account the discount for Davis' guilty plea on the possession of cannabis sentence.

Mrs. Justice Wade-Miller reduced the possession of cannabis prison sentence to six months and the cultivation sentence to one year -- to run concurrently.