Friends and family of Canadian musician Jordan Gardner have launched a campaign this week to free him from prison in Australia.
Now Toronto reports that Gardner, who is one half of Canadian electro duo Ebody, was caught attempting to smuggle almost 40 kilos of cocaine into Australia. He has since pleaded guilty to the chargers and is waiting to be sentenced this Thursday in Sydney.
Gardner is expected to be given life imprisonment, but the new Change.org petition argues that he was “violently threatened” into committing the crime.
“Jordan does not belong in jail and many of us are wondering if anything can be done to help our friend in this horrible and unfortunate situation,” says the petition, which has over 800 signatures and also claims Gardner’s actions were “completely out of his character.”
The petition encourages those signing to write a character reference to the Sydney Downing Centre Local Court, and provides a template letter to do so which reads as follows.
“Jordan is a man of strong integrity. His level of motivation and willingness to succeed were always of inspiration to those around him. Since he has been away, a great void has been felt in our community for so many who considered him a friend.”
“Based on my relationship with Jordan, the events that have led him to this current situation are extremely irregular. As a result I am confident that he has a willingness to come out of this situation with a newly restored and positive outlook on life. I believe that he will use the lessons of this ordeal to help others when faced with making their own positive decisions in the future.”
