Are you trying to tell me the lawyer doesn't know the law ... or was he working with the juror in an effort to get the accused murderer a hung jury?
The lawyer should be disbarred.
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Juror forces Judge to abort murder trialJuly 22, 2010 | By KNews | Filed Under News
Murder accused Alfred Campbell
A juror did not disclose that he had an indictable matter in court and that the defense counsel is his attorney in Magistrate court.
The result was that Justice Brassington Reynolds was forced to abort the retrial of murder accused Alfred Campbell, called Sobers, when he learnt that one of the jurors sitting in the case has an indictable matter before the Reliance Magistrate’s Court.
The judge also learnt that the juror is being represented by state appointed attorney in this matter, Charrandass Persaud.
The juror had told the court that he has a traffic matter before the lower court but never disclosed that he also had a more serious charge— unlawful assault in the lower court. This feature by the juror is contrary to the criminal justice Act which does not allow any one with an indictable charge to sit on a jury panel.
When the matter was adjourned on Tuesday the judge had instructed the jurors to return for court at 11:00 hrs, yesterday, because one of the jurors had to attend the magistrate court to answer a private matter.
He had given the jurors up to 11:00 hrs to assembly because he had envisaged that that would have been enough time for the one juror to complete his matter in the lower court and return.
In the interim the Judge had asked the registrar to enquire of the nature of the man’s charge in the lower court. It was then that he learnt that the defense attorney in the murder trial Charrandass Persaud was representing the juror in the ongoing assault matter in the Magistrate’s court.
Justice Reynolds in discharging the jury stated that he cannot continue with the matter since he would find it uncomfortable to work with the juror.
He said that the court system must be fair to all. As such the matter will have to start over.
The rest of the jury panel will have to return to Court on July 27, for a restart of the retrial.
Any juror who has an indictable matter must wait six months after the completion of that matter before he can sit on any jury panel.
Campbell, who is accused of shooting to death his stepson, Travis Cleon Fraser, called “Black Boy”, 20, was being tried before Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed jury. He was being tried for the second time.
He was previously found guilty of the capital offence and sentenced to death, on March 3, 2008; He however appealed his conviction and won a retrial in the Appellate Court.
The victim was allegedly shot to death some time between January 22 and January 23, 2004, while he was asleep in his Liverpool, Corentyne home.
Four witnesses had given evidence, including Pamela Fraser, the reputed wife of the accused, her sister, Simone Fraser, 40, and two neighbours, Jermaine Scott and his wife, Bernadette Scott.
Attorney at law Dionne Mc Cammon was appearing for the state.
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