It is the best outcome that the Peck Family could have hoped for, but a person staring down a mandatory sentence of jail time does not just escape so casually - in fact we've never seen it happen before! So how did it happen? 7News was out at the Magistrate's Court for the sentence hearing this morning, and Daniel Ortiz has that story:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
Gino Peck's family arrived just before 9 a.m., signaling that the sentencing hearing was close.

COLA, which was the first on the scene, gladly welcomed Peck's relatives, the first inkling that he wouldn't face what is to come alone.? One by one, police officers sympathizing with Gino, started to show up; they weren't allowed to protest, but their mere presence was important.

The Commissioner of Police had gotten word that a mass gathering of officers intended to show up to court and throw in their support for whatever demonstration was planned, so he gave a directive down the chain of command that no one is supposed to do that. The public display of the Department's support was already making different quarters of the judiciary and public services nervous.

They had in effect condemned the decision to criminally prosecute Gino.

Still some officers did, and we would hazard a guess that their shift ended just in time to be out as a civilian, so that they could be at court with Peck.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, who prosecuted the Peck Case, was public enemy number 1 for those who were present, and when she walked pass crowd, they boo-ed her.

It was a strange co-incidence that she was elevated to senior counsel today, a respected position amongst her peers, but out on the street, she was taking heat for simply being the spouse of Superintendent Marco Vidal, the Commanding Officer of GSU, the unit which ensured that Peck was criminally charged - even when the police department didn't support it. Strictly speaking she was only doing her job, but because it was Corporal Peck she had pressed to convict, the Vidal connection was toxic today.

Back in front of the Chief Magistrate's court, the energy started to build, with COLA at the helm disrupting the normal atmosphere at the court house.

The Chief Magistrate was strict in maintaining law and order in her court room, but outside, the noise seeped into the proceedings. It was helped along periodically by the intermittent police patrol mobiles passing by the crowd.

They, along with the off-duty police officers, formed the pockets of civil disobedience showing Corporal Peck support, despite the directive from the Commissioner.

Normally, it would be the police who would be called on to break up what was an illegal protest, but on this day, who cared? The community and the department were on the same side.

Moreover, why would they try to quiet the voices of the personalities who had the very same message they were ordered not to give?

Geovanni Brackett - President, COLA
"Today we are seeing that even the police is not safe from this gun law - that it can be used in a vindictive fashion and we are out here to say that we support Coporal Peck."

Delroy Herrera - Activist
"Today we stand in solidarity with Corporal Peck and his family. Like we were saying before and what we are saying all the time: what is good for one is good for all and we are calling on the Prime Minister to come down to our level and let us chat about this gun law."

Yhony Rosado - Protesting Gun Law
"I was locked up for a false report."