By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
THE Court of Appeal has implemented a new measure designed to alleviate a number of the delays it experienced with substantive appeals due to outstanding transcripts exceeding 1,000 pages.
The revelation came during a special ceremony hosted by the appellate court to report on its success and challenges during the previous legal year.
Addressing members of the judiciary, attorneys, court officers and the press, Court of Appeal President Justice Anita Allen noted that the court was “again challenged by the late delivery of transcripts for criminal appeals, most of which have now been delivered”.
“However, we face a formidable challenge by the sheer volume of some of those transcripts,” the judge added.
“While these transcripts are sent to us electronically, each transcripts still has to be reproduced in three hard copies for the purpose of appeal hearings. In the month of February, we have three cases listed which would require reproduction of some 37,500 pages. That is an impossible task for us and too expensive a task to out-source.”
The substantive appeal cases in question are all high profile matters that attracted much publicity in 2013 and 2014.
The first to be heard is that of Jonathan Armbrister, who, with David Collins, was convicted of conspiring to rob a John Bull retail store in a Supreme Court trial that lasted six months.
The second matter involves death row inmate and convicted child killer Kofhe Goodman, whose trial for the September 2011 murder of Marco Archer lasted four months.
The third case involves Stephen “Die” Stubbs, Andrew “Yogi” Davis and Clinton “Russ” Evans, who were all sentenced to life in jail for the 1999 murder of Constable Jimmy Ambrose at the now-closed Club Rock Disco.
“I have therefore,” Justice Allen explained yesterday, “issued a practice direction effective January 23, 2015, directing that in cases in which the transcript exceeds 1,000 pages, counsel must, within seven days of the receipt of the transcript, file a ‘transcript index’ outlining the specific portions of the transcript on which they intend to rely in the appeal.”
“In this regard, I ask for the full co-operation of all counsel,” the judge added.
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