BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A renowned local lawyer stood alone outside Government Headquarters while the 217 Budget Session was in progress this afternoon (Dec. 9) in peaceful protest for monies owed to him by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis.
When SKNVibes arrived on the scene, the placard-bearing Attorney-at-Law, Chesley Hamilton, said he was protesting for monies owed to him as a Court-appointed Counsel for defending a large number of people who were charged with either murder or manslaughter.
“This afternoon I am here protesting because I have worked in the courthouse on a number of capital matters. I had sent my bill to the AG’s Chambers, the Executive of the Government, because the Judiciary, which is another branch of the Government, had appointed me and I need to be paid.
“I am not being paid and I have worked on a number of murder cases for the year. I have worked over the years on even more cases. I sent my detailed bill to the Government and as far as I understand is that the AG said he is not paying me any money. So I don’t know what his problem is and I don’t know what his difficulty is, because he said his fees and his scale is $10,000 to $15,000, which is a ridiculous amount for the most serious matters that could ever come before a court system.”
Hamilton declared that he had done over 40 capital matters during his career and explained what some of his clients had to endure, while he was offered a pittance to represent them.
“When the State attempts to take the live of a citizen, the State is saying that it should only put $10,000 to the defence of that person, though they had locked up that person and took away their freedom. Many times, for six, seven or even eight years, they would have people locked up and the only person that stands between the State and its power for those persons is sometimes a criminal defence lawyer.
“And at the end of the day when they bring in their DNA expert, their Ballistics expert, Pathologist and all sorts of manner of people with the State’s resources and treat them well, they don’t want to pay defence counsels.”
He emphasised that all he wants is what is due to him for work already done.
“All I am asking them is to pay me my money. I have already worked, please pay me.”
Asked what action he intends to take or what recourse is available to him, Hamilton said: “This is the action and the recourse. I will protest and I will be a bug in the rug until I am being paid. I am not going to go down quietly. I am going to make sure that I am paid.”
The attorney emphatically declared that today’s protest was the first of many.
“This is the beginning of my protest action, not the end. I have tried quietly to negotiate and I tried quietly to write to them. So when diplomacy fails you have to draw a line in the sand some place, and this [protest] is the line in the sand. I need to be paid.
“When they are going home with their double salary and their four salaries, double of nothing is nothing. I need to be paid. I need something to go home with too!”
Hamilton informed that his fee for capital matters ranges between $50,000 and $75,000 but at no time he has ever been paid that amount by the former or current Administration.
He made reference to what some individuals had told him about the Attorney General with regards to the monies owed by the State.
“My understanding from people who I know had met and spoken with the AG is that he does not intend to pay me. So what I am simply saying to him is that he has to pay my bill, I have already worked and I am not begging him for anything. This is not his money; it is the Government’s money.”
Hamilton also referenced what he was told by Prime Minister Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris.
“The Prime Minister had told me that he told the AG to pay me. He said that in the presence of the Cabinet Secretary and another Minister. He said that to the AG...to pay me and the AG is disobeying him. I want to know how a non-elected member could disobey not only an elected member but also the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. That is what I want to know!”
Hamilton vowed to no longer represent anyone charged with the capital offence as a Court-appointed Counsel.
“I am not taking on any new capital cases and I have already said that to the Judiciary. I have matters that are still pending and I have given the Judiciary my word that I will finish them as a matter of my professional responsibility. I will finish those that I have already undertaken, but I am not taking any new matters.”
