The method used to speed up the trial process has created a glut of cases before the Supreme Court, The Nassau Guardian can reveal.
Of the 354 cases filed in the Supreme Court last year, most of them were expedited by the voluntary bill of indictment (VBI) procedure, according to the attorney general’s annual report.
Those new cases have increased the workload of five criminal courts that have failed to make a dent in the backlog.
A lawyer described the use of the VBI over a preliminary inquiry before the magistrates court this way: “That’s like switching lanes and encountering the same traffic.”
A judge agreed that fast-tracking cases via VBIs is not the solution to improving efficiency in the criminal justice system.
The judge said, “There are a number of mechanisms we employ for cases to move quickly, like the VBIs. Once you have them there, there is no way we will be able to prosecute them. Even if we increase the number of courts to 10, we’re not going to make an impact on the number of cases that need to be prosecuted.”
With the Supreme Court calendar already in 2014, defendants whose cases were fast-tracked through the system are still not receiving certain trial dates.
The lawyer for an accused armed robber told The Guardian that his client was the third person to receive the same April 2014 trial before a judge.
Court officials suggest a better scrutiny of which cases will be tried and increased use of the plea bargaining process as a more effective way to address the backlog.
The Free National Movement (FNM) and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) administrations have used the VBI process to address delays in the system.
A judge said, “There needs to be more scrutiny of cases that come before the AG. They have to make some hard decisions. They have to say, ‘Yes, we’d like to prosecute your case, but the evidence isn’t here or we just can’t get to your case.’”
The Plea Discussions Act that became law in 2008 has rarely been used, according to officials.
The Guardian first asked Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson for statistics on plea-bargaining in July.
To date, The Guardian has not received the numbers.
With a low conviction rate, defendants often take their chances at trial and win.
Oftentimes, VBIs are rarely ready for service on the dates projected by prosecutors, who are unable to obtain essential reports from police investigators.
Defense lawyers complain that the VBI process has been abused, as they still receive documents that would have been produced during the preliminary inquiry before the magistrate in the days leading up to trial and occasionally on the trial date.
New trial dates are set to allow defense counsel time to peruse the material.
Justice John Lyons criticized the PLP’s Swift Justice Program shortly after its launch in 2006 by Maynard-Gibson.
He said, “There is no point in having a swift justice program unless those problems which have caused the need for a swift justice program, are first eradicated. If these are not eradicated, all that occurs is an exercise in expediency and the cutting of corners.”
Maynard-Gibson reintroduced the program, which relies on the VBI process to achieve its aims, when the PLP returned to office in May 2012.
In our next article, we will look at the systemic difficulties caused by lack of personnel and resources.
By Artesia Davis
The Nassau Guardian
