By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
THE public will have to bear the costs of a man’s appeal against a murder conviction and death sentence after he was unable to retain private legal representation.
Anthony Clarke Sr, of Mount Pleasant Village, told Justices Anita Allen, Stanley John and Abdulai Conteh that he was unable to retain counsel in time since being granted an extension to appeal in December.
He said he would not be able to argue his appeal without the help of an attorney.
Justice Allen, on Wednesday, said the court would contact the registrar asking for an attorney to be appointed to him at the public’s expense when he contests his conviction and ultimate punishment concerning the September 16, 2011, murder of Aleus Tilus.
During Clarke’s trial, the prosecution produced a confession statement in which Clarke purportedly owned up to the murder.
He allegedly told police that he was paid “a lot of money” by a man, who was not named, to kill Tilus because of an ongoing dispute before the Labour Board, concerning Tilus’s employer.
The convict’s attorney, Shaka Serville, submitted that the statement was obtained through force and brutality against his client.
The jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict and the prosecutor Ambrose Armbrister indicated the Crown’s intention to seek the death penalty.
On October 10, Senior Justice Jon Isaacs, having taken into account submissions from the prosecution and defence attorneys and the probation and psychiatric reports, agreed to the Crown’s request to sentence Clarke to death for Tilus’s murder.
Clarke had applied to the Court of Appeal for an extension of time late last year, having missed his 21-day deadline to appeal his murder conviction and death sentence.
He is now scheduled to reappear before the appellate court on April 24 for a status hearing.
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