This country’s first judge-alone trial ended in just six days.
And the accused who spent 14 years awaiting a trial on a murder charge was found not guilty.
“You are not guilty of felony murder. You are free to go,” Justice Gillian Lucky told Kwasi Forde, at the close of the evidence and legal submissions on Monday.
The trial started in the San Fernando Second Criminal Court about two weeks ago but the evidence was recorded over a period of six days.
On Monday, the judge summed up the case to the attorneys, informing them of the issues she considered and gave reasons why she found Forde not guilty.
This took about 40 minutes. In a trial by jury, the judge would sum up the case to the jurors and then they will have up to three hours to deliberate in the first instance. They can request more time to deliberate.
There were fewer delays in the trial as legal issues which arose were quickly resolved between the attorneys and the judge.
Forde was charged with the October 10, 2005 murder of Gerard Bocas. Bocas was liming at Cover Girl’s Restaurant and Bar at Carib Street, San Fernando when four men entered and said it was a hold-up.
Bocas was fatally shot. Forde opted to be tried by a judge on February 6—five days after the law came into effect.
The State led evidence from four patrons.
The State, represented by attorneys Trevor Jones and Rebecca Trim-Wright, also relied on the evidence of charging officer Anthony Charles who claimed that Forde made an incriminating utterance. The officer, however, did not write down the utterance.
Forde was represented by attorneys Larry Williams, instructed by Michelle Ali. He did not give evidence. However, Forde called his mother Annmarie Arbuckle who claimed he was at home with her and other relatives celebrating his sister’s birthday when the incident took place.
He also called three of the seven men who were on the identification parade with him. One of the men, Dominic Checkley, said the witness had first pointed him (Checkley) out.
Checkley’s claim was supported by the two other men. In reviewing the evidence, Lucky rejected the evidence of an alibi.
The judge said Forde made no mention of a party or being at home when he was interviewed by the police. She also found that the mother would have done more to help her son, such as making a report or insisting that she speak with the police. The judge found that Greene was an “honest but mistaken witness.”
Not a panacea for
backlog of cases —Lucky
Commenting on the judge-alone system, she said it was not meant to be a panacea for criminal law backlog.
“There are several initiatives— status hearings, the implementation and active and robust implementation of the criminal procedure rules, the individual calendaring of judges which in this case Mr Williams and Mr Jones you all recognise enabled this matter to be dealt with in a timely fashion.”
Wishing Forde well as he re-enters society, the judge advised him to choose his friends wisely. Interviewed by the media afterwards, Forde complained that he was given “a frame case.”
Forde said he spoke to other inmates about the judge-alone trial.
“It have real people who will take that now because they see I home here now.”
Although his client was found not guilty, Williams said he was not a big proponent of judge-alone trials.
He said, “I did this one because the facts lent itself to having a judge alone.”
He said the issues in the case will determine whether or not it should be tried by a judge.
“If it is a matter of credibility, so you believe the State witnesses as oppose to the defence witnesses I will not go a judge-alone.”
He said judges were not always representative of everybody’s view whereas a jury of 12 may be able to relate to instances where a judge may not be able to relate. However, he said the trial was very smooth time-wise, very fair and he had no complaints.
