Don’t blame the judge, says legal expert

Criticisms are being levelled at Supreme Court Judge Martin Gayle who last week admonished and discharged a pastor, who is a licensed firearm holder from the United States, of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

The judge said it would have been a travesty of justice to have imposed a fine or send Pastor Timothy Acree to prison, given the circumstances.

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Pastor Acree pleaded guilty because he said he just wanted to have the matter dealt with expeditiously so he could go home.

“It was no fault of the pastor that he was allowed by customs to take the firearm with him to the hotel when he arrived in the island,” said attorney-at-law Henry McCurdy who represented the pastor.

McCurdy was instructed by attorney-at-law Clayton Morgan.

Pastor Acree arrived in the island on October 1 and declared the firearm and licence to customs at the Donald Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James.

He was accompanied on the trip by 200 persons, including his wife and four children, the youngest being six years old.

McCurdy said when the pastor reached the hotel he locked the firearm in the hotel vault.

On leaving the island last week Thursday, the pastor attempted to check in the firearm, which was locked in a box, and was told he could not check it in. The police were called and the pastor was arrested and charged with illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

“It was no fault of the accused that he was allowed to take the firearm into the island after declaring it,” McCurdy said.

He explained that the airline on which his client travelled knew he had a firearm and when he came to Jamaica he declared it and was allowed to go through with it, which could have been an oversight on the part of the customs officer.

McCurdy said that the pastor should never have been charged because customs would have the form to prove that the firearm was declared.

When Pastor Acree appeared in the Western Regional Gun Court last week Friday, there was no issue regarding the fact that he had declared the firearm to customs, McCurdy added.

A legal expert said the customs officer breached the Customs Act because the pastor was allowed to import the firearm into the island.

The expert said the pastor can sue the government for false imprisonment, because on those facts he should not have been charged, “therefore, the judge should not be blamed for the sentence he imposed”.

- Barbara Gayle

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