Dear Editor,
I write to publicly comment on this issue which took place in the Westmoreland Circuit Court on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, where a former West End Negril pastor, accused of marrying a Canadian woman, was freed by a seven-member jury of a charge of bigamy as well as other related offences.
The jury, which comprised four men and three women, unanimously decided on each count of the four charges. However, according to reports, the presiding Justice Martin Gayle described the verdict as disgraceful, adding that "no wonder we don't have any justice in this country". Additionally, he instructed the registrar to communicate copies of the written evidence to the Canadian Embassy. He then was reported as saying: "I am releasing all seven of you for the rest of the term. You can go and never return here; all seven of you. It is my wish not to see all of you for the rest of the term."
Jamaica has a justice system which operates with juries for most criminal cases. And at all times the presiding judge should respect and abide by the formal decision of the jury, whether they have found the person guilty or not, because that is how our justice system lawfully operates.
For the presiding justice to describe the jury's decision to acquit Ian Samuels as disgraceful is totally shameful and scandalous, to say the least. He has a distinct responsibility and duty to respect the decision of the jury and for him to say to them to go and never return is highly disrespectful and contemptuous, to put it bluntly.
I fully concur with the Cornwall Bar Association and its esteemed President Michael Erskine that the jury members must be treated with respect, because they have carried out their civic duty as citizens of this country. They should not be abused in any shape or form whatsoever. When judges such as Justice Martin Gayle makes such disrespectful comments to jurors it has a potential negative effect on prospective jurors. Jury members carry out an important function in the country's courts and they should be treated with vast respect by judges and prosecutors. Justice Gayle's public bashing of those jury members in the court is shameful and the chief justice should reprimand the justice for his comments. His comments do not serve justice well in this country, and as a citizen of this country I am most disappointed in his comments.
Robert Dalley,
St James
Justice Martin Gayle's comments shameful
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I write to publicly comment on this issue which took place in the Westmoreland Circuit Court on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, where a former West End Negril pastor, accused of marrying a Canadian woman, was freed by a seven-member jury of a charge of bigamy as well as other related offences.
The jury, which comprised four men and three women, unanimously decided on each count of the four charges. However, according to reports, the presiding Justice Martin Gayle described the verdict as disgraceful, adding that "no wonder we don't have any justice in this country". Additionally, he instructed the registrar to communicate copies of the written evidence to the Canadian Embassy. He then was reported as saying: "I am releasing all seven of you for the rest of the term. You can go and never return here; all seven of you. It is my wish not to see all of you for the rest of the term."
Jamaica has a justice system which operates with juries for most criminal cases. And at all times the presiding judge should respect and abide by the formal decision of the jury, whether they have found the person guilty or not, because that is how our justice system lawfully operates.
For the presiding justice to describe the jury's decision to acquit Ian Samuels as disgraceful is totally shameful and scandalous, to say the least. He has a distinct responsibility and duty to respect the decision of the jury and for him to say to them to go and never return is highly disrespectful and contemptuous, to put it bluntly.
I fully concur with the Cornwall Bar Association and its esteemed President Michael Erskine that the jury members must be treated with respect, because they have carried out their civic duty as citizens of this country. They should not be abused in any shape or form whatsoever. When judges such as Justice Martin Gayle makes such disrespectful comments to jurors it has a potential negative effect on prospective jurors. Jury members carry out an important function in the country's courts and they should be treated with vast respect by judges and prosecutors. Justice Gayle's public bashing of those jury members in the court is shameful and the chief justice should reprimand the justice for his comments. His comments do not serve justice well in this country, and as a citizen of this country I am most disappointed in his comments.
Robert Dalley,
St James
Justice Martin Gayle's comments shameful
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