Man sentenced to life in prison for buying pet dogs… to trade in ‘white goods’

On April 22, at the People's Court of Nghe An province, the Hanoi High People's Court opened a criminal appeal trial of Le Tien Tinh (27 years old), residing in Quynh Xuan ward, Hoang Mai town, for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics".

According to the investigation agency's documents, on March 26, 2019, Tinh took 40 million VND by bus to Tinh Gia district (Thanh Hoa) to buy a pet dog. Here, Tinh coincidentally met a fellow prisoner named Linh. Knowing that Tinh was addicted, Linh invited his friend to buy drugs for himself and sell them at a cheap price.

Linh said that if Tinh took the whole kilo of drugs, the price would be only 150 million VND. Seeing the cheap price, Tinh agreed to buy and paid 40 million VND in advance, the rest of the money was deferred. Tinh took the drugs home, divided them into small amounts to hide and use gradually.

Defendant Le Tien Tinh at the trial. Photo: Tran Vu

The next afternoon, Tinh brought drugs to Thai Hoa town. While waiting for the bus, Tinh was administratively checked by Thai Hoa town police, who discovered 918.75 grams of Methamphetamine in the bag Tinh was carrying.

From Tinh's testimony, authorities urgently searched Tinh's rented room and discovered 4 plastic bags containing drugs with a total weight of 1.08 grams.

At the first instance trial held in August 2019, Tinh confessed to all his crimes. Tinh said he bought the drugs for his own use and then sold them for profit. With a bad record of having two previous convictions for drugs, Le Tien Tinh was sentenced to life in prison.

Believing that the sentence was too high, Tinh appealed for a lighter sentence. At the appeal court, because the defendant could not provide new details to request a lighter sentence, the panel of judges advised the defendant to withdraw the appeal. However, the defendant still insisted on appealing for a lighter sentence. The defendant explained his difficult family circumstances and asked for a lighter sentence so he could start his life over.

The Court of Appeal determined that the defendant had a bad personal history and was in possession of a large quantity of drugs. Therefore, the first instance judgment in sentencing the defendant to life imprisonment was correct for the person, the crime, and the law. At today’s trial, the defendant failed to provide any new details, so there was no basis for review.

Considering the case as a whole, the court rejected the defendant's appeal and upheld the life sentence for Le Tien Tinh for the crime of "Illegal possession of narcotics".