Several attorneys have expressed support for the intended legal action threatened by death row inmate Lester Pitman challenging the Court of Appeal’s almost four-year delay to hand down a decision in his appeal against three murder convictions. When contacted yesterday, the lawyers, who all have extensive experience in presenting appeals to the court but spoke on the condition of anonymity, all described the court’s delay in Pitman’s case as unacceptable.
The legal threat seeks to compel the Court of Appeal to deliver the outstanding judgment. Chief Justice Ivor Archie was one of the judges who heard the appeal. “Pitman has raised a serious issue. You cannot have a man waiting in jail for almost four years for the result of his appeal,” one attorney said.
The attorney said one of his clients has also been waiting for over a year-and-a-half for the judgment in his appeal and his family had suggested filing a similar constitutional motion as promised by Pitman, in the pre-action protocol letter his attorneys sent to the office of the Solicitor General on Monday. He, however, expressed optimism that Pitman’s threat of legal action would serve as the catalyst for the court’s speedy delivery of the outstanding judgment in Pitman’s case and those of several other convicted men.
“I’m sure they (Appeal Court) will deliver all those judgments by the end of the year,” the attorney said. Another attorney took issue with the Court of Appeal’s silence on the issue and demanded that they give a detailed explanation for their delay. “They can’t just say that it is unfortunate. They need to explain to him (Pitman) and the public why they are taking so long to deliver these important judgments,” the lawyer said.
Both attorneys also noted that there were several other appeals which were outstanding, including one filed by convicted drug traffickers Barry Francis and Roger Hinds, in which the court was asked to determine if the 25-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking could be considered cruel, unusual and arbitrary punishment. “That judgement is 16 months overdue. Over 15 convicted persons are waiting for that judgment to be sentenced by the High Court,” the attorney said.
In the letter sent by his attorney Criston J Williams, Pitman is contending that through its delay the court has breached his constitutional rights. He is seeking an order vacating the mandatory death sentence for his conviction of the murders of Englishman John Cropper, his mother-in-law Maggie Lee and sister-in-law Lynette Lithgow-Pearson in 2004. His attorneys are claiming that the sentence would amount to cruel and unusual punishment if passed on him because more than five years have elapsed since his conviction.
Pitman was convicted along with Daniel Agard for the murders. The Appeal Court threw out Pitman’s appeal but allowed Agard’s. Agard was again convicted of the triple murders in September this year. Pitman appealed to the Privy Council, where his attorneys presented fresh evidence on his diminished mental capacity.
The British law lords granted his appeal and reverted the issue of Pitman’s ability to stand trial to the Appeal Court. The issue was heard by a three-member appeal panel led by Chief Justice Ivor Archie on March 4, 2010, with the court reserving its judgment. On October 14, this year, after more than three years had elapsed, Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, who represented the State in Pitman’s appeal, wrote to Archie complaining of the delay in his case and those of two other capital matters.
In a letter to Archie, Seetahal said: “It goes without saying that where appellants are in custody in capital matters it must be an affront to the entire administration of justice that a judgment of the Court of Appeal in each case could be delayed for almost four years in one matter, over three years in a second and for over 15 months in another and further where such delays are unexplained.”
Seetahal refered to a Privy Council judgment, delivered this year, in which that court ruled that a four-year delay in a case was “entirely unacceptable and must never be allowed to happen again.” In response, Archie apologised for the delay and described it as “unfortunate” and promised that the judgments in the three matters cited by Seetahal would be dealt with before the end of the year.
Both the president of the Law Association Seenath Jairam SC and the Criminal Bar Association Pamela Elder SC were not available for comment yesterday.