From the Death Sentence to the Dismissal of All Charges: Thai Supreme Court Rules on the Cook and Gerard Narcotics Case

The following is a press release from Thailand Bail Legal Services. Their statements and opinions are entirely their own.

From the Death Sentence to the Dismissal of All Charges: Thai Supreme Court Rules on the Cook and Gerard Narcotics Case

The case has been completely dismissed by the Supreme Court after 19 months of consideration since the death penalty verdict from the Court of Appeals. The defendants, Australian Luke Joshua Cook and American Tyler Gerard (AKA Tyler Joseph Fulton Sheen Gerard), after almost 4 years and 6 years behind bars respectively, are out of prison, out of Thailand, and back home. We believe this is a major win for our firm, for our clients, and for Thailand’s legal system.

We have included some facts about the case below:

• Mr. Luke Joshua Cook and Mr. Tyler Gerard were both originally arrested for this case in December 2017. It has been almost 4 years since then. On 09 November 2018, the Court of First Instance (Rayong Provincial Court) read the verdict, sentencing both defendants to death. The decision was appealed, and the verdict was read by the Court of Appeals, Region 2, on 26 February 2020 and 19 March 2020 for Mr. Luke Joshua Cook and Mr. Tyler Gerard respectively. The death penalty was upheld for both defendants.

• Our law firm Thailand Bail then represented both Mr. Luke Joshua Cook and Mr. Tyler Gerard in the Supreme Court appeal against the death penalty they received from the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeals. We started working on the appeal to the Supreme Court after the death penalty verdict was given in February and March 2020.

• On 14 September 2021, 19 months after the verdict from the Court of Appeals, we represented both defendants in the judgment day hearing based on our appeal to the Supreme Court.

• The judgment on 14 September 2021 was a complete dismissal of all charges, which were importation with intent to sell and possession with intent to sell a significant quantity of class 1 narcotic – crystal methamphetamine.
• We assisted with their swift deportation, and both Mr. Luke Cook and Mr. Tyler Gerard are now back in their respective home countries – Australia and the United States of America.