The New Zealand based Samoan lawyer, Iuni Sapolu, has walked free from two criminal charges she was found guilty of during a Samoa trial last month after a decision of the District court in which the accused is discharged without conviction.
The lawyer was found guilty of one count of willful obstruction of police in the execution of their duties and one count of making insulting words to a village mayor or Pulenuu of Vaiala village.
The criminal charges were laid against Sapolu during a police drug raid at the lawyer's family property in Faato'ia village last September where cannabis plants were found.
Both charges carry jail terms but the serious one is obstruction of police duties that could send the accused to jail for a maximum of five years.
However the presiding judge, Vaepule Vaemoa Va'ai, took into account the many mitigating factors raised in the pre-sentence report relating to the accused not only in her legal profession but also a first offender at 55 years of age.
