0

Attorney General says backlog of cases is a 'grave concern'

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

EVEN if they focused solely on criminal cases in 2013, the 12 current Supreme Court judges could not clear the backlog of outstanding cases, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson yesterday.

photo

The Service to mark the opening of the 2013 legal year was held yesterday at Christ Church Cathedral. In attendance were the Chief Justice, President of the Court of Appeal, Justices of the Court of Appeal, Justices of Supreme Court, Attorney General, registrars, magistrates and members of the legal profession. Photo: Patrick Hanna/BIS

In response to the growing backlog, which Mrs Maynard-Gibson called a “grave concern”, the top prosecutors in her office have been chosen to tackle cases under the re-implemented “Swift Justice” initiative.

“The office of the Attorney Gerenal has created a division, led by the former solicitor general and the former OC of prosecutions, whose sole responsibility is the administration of criminal cases,” she said during yesterday’s official opening of the legal year.

“Its audit of matters in OAG (Office of the Attorney General) from 2002 to date reveals that the number of matters outstanding in OAG is such that if 12 judges of the Supreme Court sat hearing only criminal matters for all of 2013 the backlog of cases would not be cleared by the end of 2013.

“I ask you to note that this audit does not include matters before 2002. This is cause for grave concern. As an important step in addressing this matter all members of the prosecution team have been mobilised to trials.”

Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the team is headed by Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen along with her deputies Franklyn Williams and Garvin Gaskin.

“It is our intention to aggressively move matters to trial so that backlog is at a manageable and acceptable level as soon as possible” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said.

“Swift Justice has been re-implemented. A renewed collaboration between stakeholders is resulting for the most part in VBIs (Voluntary Bills of Indictment) being presented when scheduled and fewer trials being vacated from the court calendar for matters within the control of the state.”

“We are committed to working closely with the court so that as soon as one case is finished, another will be ready to start. Judges sit every day, ready, willing and able to hear matters and we are making every effort to ensure that valuable judicial time is not wasted,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said.

She also noted the office’s goal to have cases fast-tracked to the Supreme Court within 30 days of arraignment before Magistrate’s Court.

“This will in turn maximise the possibility of serious matters being tried within a reasonable period,” she said.

Comments

Ironvelvet 11 years, 11 months ago

Well my dear AG, you could conveniently leave the country again and have Jerome Fitzgerald go in there and dismiss a few until you are caught up and then say its in the name of national security.

That is one way....lol

jackbnimble 11 years, 11 months ago

Lol. I was thinking the same thing. Why would you put a statement like that out there? Me thinks I really need to get to know my AG's in case I or a family member get in trouble and need some help. lol

concernedcitizen 11 years, 11 months ago

we could speed all of this up tomorrow with plea bargaining ,but our greedy lawyers that becoming greedy politicians will never do it becuase there is less money in plea bargaining for the lawyers ,,,also quite wasting the courts time when u charge an otherwise law abiding citizen with a half bag of grass ,,we can,t try murderers in time but we can send someone to fox hell for 5 dollars worth of herbs that is less dangerous than alcohol

Sign in to comment