Thank you very much for your comments. Ive resorted to keeping my rebuttals to myself on a number of the comments here in order to keep the peace

Thanks for the tip btw about sending multiple copies. I only sent one hard copy of hte letter and so far no idea whether it was received or not. i will send another few copies and see what happens.

I agree with you 100% in the way you’ve described things. How can a questionable instance of drug smuggling warrant a harsher sentence than a convicted murderer? Hell some of the 9/11 and other terrorists receive lighter sentences than schapelle has received. It is disgusting really.

Drug smuggling is a massive industry and to think that it does not happen on a regular basis at almost any airport in the world is just plain ignorant.

Innocent people get screwed all the time. While the possibility is there that drugs had belonged to her brother or someone she was with at this point it would be pointless for Schapelle to even consider mentioning it because it would in no way secure her release in exchange for that information…. it would only land more people in jail.

If she is protecting her brother.. .. its what story books are made of.

Yes her brother is a questionable dude and unfortunately society now-a-days assumes everyone is guilty by association.

I also want to respond to the previous poster who mentioned there are “reports” and “witnesses” who say Corby is guilty and her family are up to their neck in drug dealing/trafficking. The Australian media seem to have been running a smear campaign against her and her family for several years now; the police release statement after statement saying they have thoroughly investigated every lurid story about her family being involved in the drug trade, and there is no basis or evidence that any such claims/stories are true. (The part about the arrest of her younger brother James is true, but the police actually laughed off all the rest, the claims made by that McCauley guy; about the brother being the real courier, etc. I’m not having a go at you. A drug smuggling scenario involving her brother or one of the other two girls she travelled with isn’t that hard to imagine.)
Also, you ask, “How would corrupt airport smugglers or conspirators manage to find the exact custom-sized cut bag that was meant to lie under the board?”
Cannabis sealed inside a vacuum sealed bag just naturally takes on the exact same shape as whatever its compressed or carried inside. It happens within a short space of time. Had it been stuffed inside a rectangular suitcase, I guarantee it would have taken on the exact same shape too. (It loses the shape just as quickly.)
Finally, for anyone who thinks drugs couldn’t be smuggled the way her defense claimed, this happened at the same airport on the same day and time as Corby passed through:

Accidental Drug Mule - Traffickers hid 10kg of cocaine in tourist’s bag

AN Australian tourist became an unwitting drug mule when 10kg of cocaine was concealed in his luggage without his knowledge.

http://www.phaseloop.com/foreignprisoners/news-australia/news-aust102.html

The only thing I objected to in the films portrayal was the biased view that she was incontrovertibly innocent of importing ganja. Her family has had a checkered past, especially the young teen brother who went with her. There are witnesses who claim that he was part of a drug smuggling operation and that they were caught because he didn’t leave the 1000 USD bribe in the bag for the authorities. Who knows? In any event, he has been jailed since Schappelle’s arrest and imprisonment on charges of battery and robbery of a marajuana dealer, and there are reports that her father, uncle and other relatives were exporters, too.

The film touched briefly on these things, but, since she is so lovely, it is hard to feel that it’s possible that she is guilty.
But, consider how unusual it is to travel in the air with a bogey board, to go to places where they are available for cheap rentals, even to buy are cheaper than traveling with them. The plastic bag with the pot was the EXACT size as the bogey-board.

How would corrupt airport smugglers or conspirators manage to find the exact custom-sized cut bag that was meant to lie under the board?

I don’t think Schappelle was the one who owned the board. I think it was her brother’s and she took the heat. What good would it do to turn him in, when the end result would be for both of them to be found guilty, maybe even incorporating more relatives like Mercedes?

I know it’s a pathetic sight to see this sweet lady suffering, but, our xenophobic views of foreign lands and their laws keeps us from using our other powers of observation.

That being said, I don’t think pot should be criminalized, and even if it is, I think it should be a misdemeanor. Serving 20 years for it is ludicrous! Murderers get less punishment.

I hope and pray this young woman gets her freedom soon, and can lead a happy life.

I commend you and your readers for their compassion on their fellow human beings in trouble.

I’ve been unable to find any info about the prison job that would shorten her sentence but I did read that unfortunately her request to be moved to a detention center/minimum security prison was denied . They only transfer to those facilities for inmates who have a 2 year sentence or less. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24003586-1702,00.html

Kerri
Amityville Long Island