NAHA, Okinawa — A Marine spouse was sentenced by a Japanese court Wednesday to one year in a Japanese prison, suspended for three years, for having marijuana mailed to her from the United States.
Jessica M. Montgomery, 23, nodded slightly but showed no other emotion as the judge read the verdict. She had pleaded guilty at an April hearing to having her mother mail 5.98 grams of marijuana from Ohio to her Camp Courtney post box last May.
The marijuana was detected by Japanese customs officials in a package received at the military postal distribution center on Camp Kinser.
During the sentencing, Judge Hiroyuki Yoshii said he suspended the sentence because Montgomery showed remorse and promised the court to never again touch an illegal substance.
At the previous hearing, the Japanese prosecutor argued for a recommended one-year prison term at hard labor. Montgomery’s lawyer asked the court to suspend the sentence.
Montgomery, who has not been in Japanese police custody, still faces punitive action from the Marine Base Inspector’s Office that could include being banned from military bases on Okinawa or being sent back to the United States.
