Charles Bentil, 46, lucked out when he came before US District Judge James C. Cacheris last April after violating his parole terms.

Bentil was on supervised release after having been convicted in 2003 of possession with the intent to distribute more than 100kg of cannabis.

Judge Cacheris found him guilty of parole violations and sentenced him to 10 days in jail, but told a re-sentencing hearing two weeks later that he had clearly meant to impose 10 months.

That 10-month sentence has now been overturned by a three-judge federal appeals court, which said re-sentencing Bentil “would be more detrimental to the fairness and integrity of the proceedings than allowing the 10-day sentence to stand”.