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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The applicant, Michael Misick, through his Attorneys-at-Law, Ralph A. Thorne, QC and Beryn Duncanson are challenging the constitutionality of the court headed by retired Jamaican judge Harrison, J. The lawyers are also challenging the power of the court to order a trial without a jury.
"The challenge springs from fundamental breaches of law that have been legislated specially for this trial."
"We are contending that the government has established a special court akin to those of other countries that have experienced severe, social, political and military unrest. Unless it can be demonstrated that this kind of upheaval has taken place in Turks & Caicos, every citizen of this country remains equally entitled to the protection of the constitution."
"Apart from challenging the constitutionality of what appears to be an undue special court, we are challenging the law that gives to that court the power to order that our client must be tried without a jury. We are contending that this order tramples on ancient and sacred principles that stipulate that in matters of trial a man is entitled to be ultimately judged by his fellow citizens."
"It has not escaped our attention that our client is being denied this right while all around him others have been given the same right. We strenuously contend that jury trial is not a luxury nor a privilege. It is a right that is not easily whittled away."
"We are arguing that there is no option other than fair trial. You either have a fair trial or none at all! We are concerned that in the prevailing legal circumstances the prospect for fairness seems to have lost its constitutional guarantee."
"We are prepared to argue that the report of the Commission of Inquiry into possible corruption has been the birth-place of these unconstitutional provisions insofar as the mode of trial now pursued was recommended in that report."
"It is a matter of some regret that a document which sought to prescribe solutions to a political crisis has transfigured portions of itself into to a legal regime of trial in a non-traditional court and without a jury. It seems horribly wrong in a stable democracy with a strong inheritance of English legal values and we hope to persuade the court to a similar view."
Ralph A. Thorne, QC
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