Defence counsel for Cordell Farrington were expected to petition the Court of Appeal either yesterday or by the latest today for an emergency hearing of an appeal against the decision of Senior Justice Anita Allen last month about how the trials relating to the five murders of which Farrington stands accused should proceed.
On June 20 Justice Allen ruled that Farrington should stand trial for the murder of 22-year-old Jamaal Robbins (reportedly Farringtonﾒs friend) in a separate trial from that for Grand Bahamaﾒs missing boys.
That trial was scheduled to begin yesterday.
Appearing before Justice Allen yesterday, Farringtonﾒs attorney, Ramona Farquharson, requested that the court stay the proceedings into that murder trial.
She told the court that she had filed a notice of appeal to the Court of Appeal on July 7 and requested that Justice Allen not proceed with the trial until the appeal was determined.
Acknowledging that she had made an error by not indicating an intention to appeal and applying for a stay of proceedings from the date when the ruling was delivered on June 20, Ms. Farquharson nevertheless maintained that it was not too late yesterday for her to take those actions.
She submitted that the appeal involved a fundamental issue, which affected how the trial would proceed and was, therefore, sufficient to erase any error, which resulted from the application not being made earlier.
In another effort to support her application for a stay, Ms. Farquharson said there was no provision within the Supreme Court Rules or the Court of Appeal Act that prohibited her from applying for a stay of the proceedings and then appealing to the Court of Appeal.
Ms. Farquharson is appealing against the decision of Justice Allen on the ground that the Supreme Court judge erred in law and fact.
The appeal was also lodged on the basis of any other reason that might appear once the record of the decision is reviewed.
Advancing her case for the court to delay the proceedings she said the courtﾒs granting of a stay would also promote her clientﾒs right to a fair trial.
According to Ms. Farquharson, she was notified that the Court of Appeal had an available date in August when it would be able to hear the appeal.
She submitted that fixture hearings and other preliminary matters have been ongoing in the case and concluded that a delay of several weeks would therefore not be too much of an inconvenience.
In the prosecutionﾒs rebuttal, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Grant-Bethel noted that the constitutional right to a fair trial also requires that the trial be heard within a reasonable time.
Stressing the importance of getting the trial started as soon as possible, Mrs. Grant-Bethel pointed out that Farrington was arrested in connection with the murders almost three years ago ﾖ back in October 2003 ﾖ and further noted that it is often the practice of the courts to allow an accused person bail if he or she has been in custody for more than two years without his or her trial commencing and an application is made for bail on his or her behalf.
Further, she said, in addition to Farringtonﾒs interest being served by getting the trial underway yesterday, the public policy element of not allowing a murder accused to be granted bail would also be fulfilled.
She then urged the court to deny the application for a stay of proceedings.
In arriving at her decision, however, Justice Allen said in the interest of justice she would permit Farringtonﾒs attorney to petition the Court of Appeal to determine whether the decision on June 20 involved an error of law or fact and consequently whether Farrington should be tried for all five murders in one trial.
In addition to Robbinsﾒ death, Farrington will stand trial for the murder of Mackinson Colas, DeAngelo McKenzie, Junior Remy and Desmond Rolle.
Justice Allen said she would permit Ms. Farquharson two days to petition the appeals court so that there would not be any risk of the court being accused of rushing a decision in respect of Farringtonﾒs murder cases.
She directed that the application to the Court of Appeal should be made on an emergency basis and adjourned the trial until Wednesday July 19.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
