Making a case for reviewing criminal charges

THE EDITOR: Weeks before the murder of George Floyd, a friend of mine called from Jamaica to speak with me about Black Lives Matter. However, it was not in the context of police brutality or systemic racism, it was about her concern for those convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. She had been so provoked by what she saw on the Netflix series “The Innocence Files” that she felt impelled to register her concerns.

Police can kill a man in more ways than by placing a knee on his neck. Many lives have been destroyed by police fabrication and prosecutorial non-disclosure of evidence.

In 2018, a series of cases in the UK were dropped amid findings that prosecutors and police were routinely failing in their duties to disclose crucial evidence. Moreover, it is not unusual in the US to see the convictions of black men being overturned many years after the appellate process has been exhausted.

Do you think there are any such deserving cases in TT?

In criminal law, Blackstone’s ratio is “It is better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer.” If you agree, then a great initiative would be to urge the Government to establish a local Criminal Cases Review Commission. The organisation has been in operation in the UK since 1997, and is responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice with the power to send a case back to an appeals court if it concludes that there was a real possibility that the court will overturn a conviction or reduce a sentence. The organisation considers applications from people convicted at both the high court and magistrates court. Critically, it’s a post-appeal organisation, so applicants need to have appealed/sought leave to appeal before a review can occur.

Can you honestly say that you believe that all the people in our prisons are guilty as charged? There have been witnesses in the past who subsequently recanted their evidence and yet the convictions have stood. Let’s try and save lives while the oppressed are still alive.

Brent Winter

via e-mail