The office of the Attorney General’s office again was criticized on Tuesday for not being properly prepared and equipped to assist the Justices of the Court of Appeal with questions posed by them with respect to cases up for appeal.
The justices who heard the cases were President of the COA Justices Dame Joan Sawyer, along with Justices Lorris Ganpatsingh and Emmanuel E. Osadebay.
During the call over 57 criminal cases, which were being appealed; were called by the justices either to be dismissed or for a date set for the appeal to be heard. The court also issued a number of warrants of arrest for appellants who were not present in court.
The mentioned justices sought to deal with a number of cases filed in the registry for appeal, which nothing was being done with.
Edmund B Turner of the Attorney General’s office was the respondent in the matters being assisted by Jillian Williams.
The first case called was that of Edward McPhee who was appealing a conviction and sentence passed down by Court 13 for the charge of possession of dangerous drugs with the intent to supply.
Attorney Edmund Turner, who stated that his client was convicted on March 17, 2000 for the mentioned charge and granted bail on March 21, 2000, represented McPhee as the appellant.
The justices questioned what the attorney for the appellant was doing for the past two years to show that he followed up on the appeal and he was pressed as to who he made inquires. Finally he admitted that he made no inquiries on the record nor did he write to the Supreme Court registry.
The president told him that the appellant had the duty to prosecute his appeal.
The attorney for the Crown said that he had no records to show when the notice of intention to appeal was served on the AG office. He was warned by the justices to ensure that the AG office was not “delinquent or lacking,” which to this he said they were not.
When questioned by the justices as to the time when the notice of intention to appeal was filed, he was unable to assist the court. Justice Osadebay suggested to Turner (respondent) that he must not like a farmer who goes to work on the farm without his tools.
Further he was told that he should always be armed with the necessary tools like the criminal procedure code and other necessary legal documents.
Moreover Turner was unable to tell the court whether the notice of intention to appeal was filed within the necessary seven-day period.
As the respondent continued to shuffle papers the president thundered that “this is not a forum for the weak or the innocent; this is a forum for the tested and tried and proven,” as he was expected by the justices to be competent on matters of the law as his offices sent him at a very young age.
As the attorney for the appellant nor the respondent representing the Crown could not assist the court the matter was stood down until February 26, 2003, when both sides were advised to have their houses in order.
Bail was extended to that date for McPhee.
The president pointed out that they were not dealing with a backlog in the system but with cases put into the registry by counsel and left there.
Justice Sawyer said that this was a serious matter where the public can see convicted persons walking around but they have no knowledge of what was happening with their case.
The president stated further that two years and eight months had passed and it was obvious that the appellant was not interested in pushing an appeal.
She said that is then that the Crown ensure that the system is not manipulated.
Additionally she said that the mentioned cases can not be considered as backlog because, backlogged cases are those which are ready to be heard but there is no place to hear them. In this instance she said that counsel was just not ready.
The next case called was that of the appeal of Ramon Sweeting for a stealing charge. T. Langton Hilton represented Sweeting who was not present in court.
Turner told the court that the appellant was in custody as he was convicted on October 31, 2001 for manslaughter and serving a ten-year sentence, which was handed down by court 13. He said that the accused was convicted on December 4, 1997.
He said that the notice of intention to appeal was filed September 24, 1998.
There was no record of the appellant serving time for the mentioned stealing conviction from the time of conviction to the time when the notice of appeal was filed.
Hilton agreed that the time for the notice to be served had expired and that no application for extension was filed to the court.
The appeal was dismissed by the justices, with the conviction and sentences affirmed.
Turner also told the bench of justices that he was called to the bar in December 2000, with the president assessing that he was only practicing law for about one year after his pupilage.
After the mid-morning break the president wanted the record to reflect the Turner was now alone in the COA with no support from the AG office.
The president said that the lawyers of the AG office had no discipline and that she was not aware that one could just randomly leave the court.
She told Turner that she was not prepared to give him any grace and that he would either have to stand his ground or desist.
The sessions at the Court of Appeal went well into the evening.
By Jimenita Swain, The Nassau Guardian
