Forecasting an improvement in the prosecution of criminal matters before the courts, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard-Gibson said Tuesday that as part of the swift justice initiative the attorney general’s office will be forging stronger working ties with the police force.
Her comments came during a press conference held at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to report on the newest components of the ongoing campaign to improve the administration of justice in the country.
“The commissioner of police has agreed that a lawyer from the OAG should be stationed at the Central Detective Unit to assist with the proper preparation of voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) files for trial,” Minister Maynard-Gibson said.
“The commissioner of police has also agreed to regular briefings by OAG team members of CDU team members in relation to preparation of VBI files and scenes of crime analysis for the purpose of trialﾅ I welcome this enhanced level of cooperation between OAG and the police and predict high success rates of prosecutions will be the result.”
She indicated that the briefings would be uplinked by video to Freeport, Grand Bahama so that the police team on that island would also be able to participate in the swift justice meetings.
Minister Maynard-Gibson also reported on plans by the OAG to ascertain a count of the number of criminal cases waiting to be heard.
“Since my appointment as attorney general in February of this year I have been trying to obtain a list of all outstanding criminal matters,” she said.
“For many reasons, including the poor state of record keeping in various agencies, I have yet to receive this list. In the nationﾒs premier law chambers this is inexcusable.”
The attorney general said she has appointed a team to produce by the end of July a list of matters being investigated; matters set for preliminary inquiry; matters where the preliminary inquiry is in progress; matters where the preliminary inquiry is complete, the transcripts are on file and the matter is ready for trial and matters where the preliminary inquiry is complete and the transcripts are not yet on file.
The list would also include matters that have been set for trial by way of voluntary bills of indictment, matters being tried and matters set for retrial.
Another measure that officials are undertaking to help expedite the administration of justice, Minister Maynard-Gibson said, is to better organise the exhibits room that is used to store exhibits used in trials.
Noting the importance of exhibits in court proceedings, she said the re-organisation project, which is being spearheaded by a team appointed by the judiciary, is expected to be completed by the end of August.
“Exhibits necessary for trial are not always available at trial,” the attorney general said.
“For example, the matter of the trial (retrial) of Monte Thompson and Kendon Brown (accused of the murder of nurse Joan Lunn) had to be moved to July 17th, even though the trial started as scheduled on June 19th, 2006 (and was scheduled) for two judicial weeks, the jury had been empanelled and the prosecutor was ready to proceed because the court could not produce for the set trial essential exhibits in the courtﾒs custody.”
Minister Maynard-Gibson also reported that the OAG has focused over the last three months on collecting statistics on the productivity of the office and has established a benchmark in relation to the utilisation of available court days per session.
Also speaking at the press conference, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Grant-Bethel said following the launch of the swift justice initiative, the attorney generalﾒs office focused not only on prosecuting the matters that had been in the system for a long period, but also reviewing the actual systems that existed for bringing matters to trial.
“We had hoped as well to bring in a number of new matters to show that it actually could be done and matters can move through the system at a swift pace within a short period of time,” she said.
“So we were happy today to have a benchmark, which means that we now have both statistics to look at for this three-month period and something by which to measure for the next three-month period.”
The ensuing period, Mrs. Grant-Bethel said, would extend from July to September.
According to the acting director, the statistics revealed that the OAG had increased the amount of cases that were being brought on for trial in the Supreme Court.
With approximately 11 cases capable of being heard in each court within a three-month period ﾖ allowing one week per case ﾖ the Office of the Attorney General was able to complete seven matters heard in the Supreme Court before Senior Justice Anita Allen and seven cases before Justice Jon Isaacs.
Out of a possible six cases that could have been heard before Justice Faizool Mohammed during the preceding three-month period, prosecutors were able to conclude four, Mrs. Grant-Bethel said.
She said in an effort to cut down on the amount of time when a judge is available but not actively hearing a matter the OAG has endeavoured to ensure that prosecutors are prepared to bring on other cases for trial in the event that there is a delay with the primary matter.
Minister Maynard-Gibson, meanwhile, also provided an update on the move by the judiciary to review the sentences of all persons who were convicted of murder and sentenced to death prior to the decision of the Privy Council in March in the appeal of Forrester Bowe and Trono Davis which held that the death penalty was unconstitutional in The Bahamas.
She indicated that the first review is scheduled to be heard on Thursday.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
