A former South Australian police officer jailed for drug trafficking will be released from prison on a good behaviour bond after his sentence was found to be "manifestly excessive".
Daniel John Schatto, 46, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail in September for giving his former wife money to buy and sell methamphetamine in the Riverland in April 2020.
She was pulled over by police on her way back from Adelaide and was in possession of almost 3.4 grams of methamphetamine — worth up to $3,300 if sold in points.
The court heard she planned to use some of the drugs and sell the rest.
Schatto was a serving police officer at Renmark at the time.
The District Court ordered him to serve a non-parole period of 22 months.
But the Court of Criminal Appeal found that sentence was manifestly excessive and re-sentenced him to two years and six months in jail, with a non-parole period of 18 months.
"That the appellant was a sworn police officer made his offending more serious than it would have been had he not been a police officer," President Mark Livesey, Justice Sam Doyle and Justice Sophie David wrote in their judgement.
"However, the offending was not committed in the course of his duties."
The court also found there was good reason to suspend the sentence if Schatto entered into a good behaviour bond for 18 months.
Schatto pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking, but a jury convicted him of the crime.
The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed Schatto's application to appeal against his conviction.
He resigned as police officer in August.
