Retrial of five in major drug bust starts
The matter before the court involves five men who were charged after being implicated in a major drug bust on August 10, 2012. They are Leon King, Jomo Jack, James T. John, Gerry Freeman and Hugh Erickson.
The case had re-started sometime in March of this year but was discontinued due to some legal ramifications that resulted in some changes in legal representation for the men.
They were all in court yesterday September 16, 2014 each being represented and the trial got underway afresh. But even before they got very far the attorneys for Jack and King, Ms Valerie Stephens-Gordon and Mr Hugh Wildman made a no case submission mainly on two grounds.
The two lawyers argued that the crown’s submission that suggested to link Jack and King in the matter of conspiracy had no standing. They both agreed and submitted that the prosecution had not disclosed any evidence that cash allegedly found in a vehicle on August 10, 2012 were proceeds of a criminal conduct.
Wildman made it clear that his client Jomo Jack was not charged with conspiracy but rather for possession and being concerned with.
“They must show that the alleged money is from a criminal proceeding,” stated Stephens-Gordon emphatically.
They also argued on the grounds that telephone records of the prosecution were should not be admissible as they pointed out in the law books where the telephone records must have been directly from the electronic source as opposed to being compiled by some expert.
The prosecution represented by Principal Crown Council Tiffany R. Scatliffe submitted that the two lawyers seemed to have been putting the cart before the horse and it is the crown’s intention to prove their case on the very argument of the defense lawyers later in the trial.
She said that she was well aware of the fact that John’s statement cannot be used against any of the other accused and if that was what the defense lawyers were suggesting she found it to have been an insult to the crown.
After interjecting several times for clarification Magistrate John told the court that this morning September 17, 2014 starting at 9:00 he will hand down his decision on the no case submission.
It is alleged that a sum of 114 kilograms of cocaine and an undisclosed large amount of cash were seized when police during an operation made the bust on the men on August 10, 2012.
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15 Responses to “Retrial of five in major drug bust starts”
1. Speedier trials
2. Stiffer penalties.
3. Where it can be proven confiscate the possessions purchased with drug money and put it in the treasury !
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