Since it began, a catalog of legal issues surrounded the case that caused numerous delays to the start of the trial, which was adjourned several times. The immediate conviction and deportation of Bullard, whose evidence in the case had to be admitted in his absence, had also caused challenges for the case.

Lewis has been suspended on full pay from her post at immigration, where she had served for thirty years before her arrest, as she awaited the hearing. But the verdict was finally delivered today and Lewis was able to walk free from the court with her name cleared.

Magistrate Gunn said that she found Lewis’ account that she was not aware her sons were dealing drugs plausible, and while CCTV footage from the home showed that they were, the crown had not been able to demonstrate that Lewis was present when this was happening or could have been aware that it was taking place.

She also felt that Lewis had no reason to question the status of what she believed was a friend of her adult son. She said she could not believe that Lewis would have had reason to suspect that Bullard had landed illegally, given her own experiences of illegal immigrants, or imagine her own son would take such a step, given her job.

The court had heard that although five other people were in the house at the time the police raided the home in Savannah, she was the only person arrested in connection with Bullard. During the trial it became apparent that this was based on the feelings of one police officer, who made an assumption that she knew the man because he saw Lewis take off a pair of slippers and pass them to him at the time of the bust.

However, when she took the stand Lewis explained that when the police raided her home in the early morning of 25 August 2016 and ordered everyone outside, she had slipped her feet into the nearest pair of slippers from a pile on the porch. But when Bullard had pointed out they were his, she simply took them off and passed them over.

Regarding the evidence presented by the crown, based largely on CCTV footage from Lewis’ own home cameras, the magistrate said she was not convinced that on the few occasions when Bullard and Lewis were shown on the back porch at the same time and had brief exchanges that any of it was incriminating, as she acquitted Lewis and discharged her from the court.

Lewis should now be entitled to return to her post. However, since she was placed on required leave, the immigration department has been abolished, with the enforcement arm moved to the new Customs and Border Control unit and the issues of work permits and legal immigration shifted to the new WORC Agency.