The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal yesterday rejected an accused murderer’s claim that the recent amendment to the Juries Act would breach his constitutional right to a fair trial.

Valentino Yustare appeared for a decision on his appeal against a Supreme Court judge’s dismissal of his constitutional motion. He had asked the judge to declare the reduction of jury challenges without cause as unconstitutional.

However, in the decision handed down by Justice Jon Isaacs, “there is no breach of unfairness”.

“Article 20 of the Constitution,” according to the written ruling, “entitled the appellant, once charged, to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by an independent and impartial court established by law.

“The article goes further by mandating that every person charged on information in the Supreme Court has a right to a trial by jury. The amendment has not altered the appellant’s right to a fair trial by jury.

“A fair hearing, though not specifically defined, the authorities suggest that it is concerned with the concepts of due process, the rule of law, and the presumption of innocence. The appellant has not demonstrated that any of these facets of a fair hearing has been affected by virtue of an amendment to the Act.

“The impugned amendment to the Juries Act, which alters the number of the peremptory challenges an accused person may make during the empanelling of a jury, does not affect a vested right of the accused man,” the ruling said.

“The amendment merely affects the procedure employed when a jury is being empanelled before commencement of a trial,” the court ruled as it dismissed the appeal.

Last month, Yustare’s attorney Murrio Ducille argued that his client had been prejudiced by an amendment to the Juries Act, which reduces the number of peremptory challenges from ten to four in murder cases.

Mr Ducille argued that the November 2014 amendment should not be applied retroactively as ten challenges without cause were permitted at his arraignment.

Yustare, who is accused of murdering Raymond Morley on December 23, 2009 at the Golden Gates Shopping Plaza, is scheduled to stand trial before Justice Turner in January 2016. Justices Anita Allen, Neville Adderley and Isaacs presided over the appeal.