Elimination of Jurors Forces Judge to Postpone Case
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter - SKNVibes.com
~~Adz:Left~~The Prosecution and the defence cannot hear the case in which Dawn Challenger is accused of influencing a juror during Eric Week’s murder trial in 2005 due to elimination of jurors.
This morning, when High Court convened in Charlestown, Nevis, Justice Francis Bell informed the court that jurors who presided over Irving Challenger’s case would be excused.
“We know the relationship,” the Judge told the court. Dawn and Irving are husband and wife. Justice Bell told the court that jurors who were involved in Irving’s case yesterday had pre-conceived ideas and it would therefore be unfair for them to sit with others who were not at the hearing.
When the process of elimination ended, only eleven jurors were acceptable to both the defence and the Prosecution to hear Dawn’s case. A twelve-member team make up the Jury. The jurors were being selected from a pool of thirty three jurors. The process of selection was further complicated by jurors already acceptable to both the defence and the prosecution, excusing themselves by citing close friendships and kinship relationships with the accused.
One juror was allowed to be on stand-by when he excused himself by saying that his wife was overseas on treatment and it required him to work daily as a self-employed person to send weekly remittances to the wife.
“You applied to another judge (Resident Judge Justice Ianthea Leigertwood-Octave) who did not excuse you. However, your state of mind may not be appropriate. You are not the best candidate for our jury,” Justice Bell told the juror.
When it became impossible to select a total of 12 acceptable to both the defence and the prosecution, Justice Bell adjourned the court at 10:00 a.m. to consult with the counsels on both sides in the Chambers.
When the High Court reconvened thirty minutes after, the Judge ruled that the case could not go on. “We are unable to get 12 persons for this case,” he said. The case was postponed until April 2008 when the next High Court Criminal Assizes is held in Nevis.
All the jurors selected for the November Nevis Criminal Assizes, were told to come back to the High Court tomorrow morning, “All of you jurors return tomorrow,” Justice Bell said. High Court will resume tomorrow morning at 9.00 a.m.
