The case confirms that a sentencing range of 10 to 12 years applies for large-scale trafficking in schedule 1 drugs on pleas of guilty, with the range potentially exceeded for aggravating features such as heroin trafficking or repeat offending on bail. Injuries sustained during arrest, including psychiatric sequelae, may be taken into account in mitigation, but the sentencing judge is not required to make findings consistent with psychiatric evidence based on incomplete or inaccurate history. Cooperation with police that is modest and at a low level warrants only correspondingly modest recognition. The dissent raises significant questions about the evidentiary foundation required for psychiatric injury claims in mitigation that may influence future cases.
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