Privy Council sides with man who waited 10 years in prison for appeal

The Privy Council has sharply criticised the Jamaican justice system in a ruling ordering the Court of Appeal to determine the correct sentence for a man who languished in prison for 10 years because authorities failed to file his appeal properly.

Ray Morgan suffered "a serious miscarriage of justice," said the United Kingdom-based judicial body, Jamaica's highest court.

It said the Court of Appeal must hear the appeal on the grounds that the consecutive sentences were manifestly excessive.

Morgan was given four consecutive sentences of three years imprisonment in the parish court on February 11, 2011, after he was convicted under the Larceny Act of four counts of obtaining money by false pretences.

He did not have a lawyer. 

On the same day Morgan was sentenced to a total of 12 years, he gave verbal notice of appeal against his conviction and sentence.

He was required to file the grounds of appeal within 21 days with the clerk of the courts in the parish court. 

Administrative error

However, in an administrative error, prison authorities sent the grounds of appeal prepared in time to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal instead of the clerk of the courts.

Despite several attempts for his appeal to be heard, Morgan was not informed of the error until 2017, which meant that the filing of the appeal was not done. 

Morgan's appeal was decided in June 2021 but by then he was released from prison having served his sentence.

The records from the parish court were not available up to that time. 

The Court of Appeal ruled that he had abandoned his appeal as the grounds of appeal were not filed within 21 days with the clerk of the courts.

It said the appeal against the sentence was "purely academic" since he had already served his time, although his complaint against the sentence had "merit".

It would not be in the interest of the administration of justice, bearing the time that had passed, to attempt to unearth the record from the parish court, added the panel which comprised President Justice Patrick Brooks and justices Jennifer Straw and Carol Edwards. 

Miscarriage of justice

The Privy Council was not pleased with how the Court of Appeal handled the matter and the fact no records of what happened at the trial had ever been presented. 

“The Court of Appeal's judgment did not expressly weigh the balance that the appellant (Morgan) was entirely blameless for the lengthy delay which had occurred and that he had done everything possible to file with the Clerk of the Courts his grounds of appeal. Through no fault of his own, the appellant has suffered a substantial injustice in that his appeal was not heard before the expiry of his prison sentence,” the Privy Council said in its judgment handed down Tuesday morning. 

“For these reasons, the Board considers that a serious miscarriage of justice has occurred and it allows the appellant's appeal in that it finds that the proviso should have been exercised in favour of hearing and determining the appeal against sentence notwithstanding that his grounds of appeal were served out of time,” the Privy Council held.

The Privy Council also rebuked the local Court of Appeal for not deciding Morgan case, arguing that issues of administrative errors should be heard because of the public interest and need to ensure confidence in the justice system. 

The top court said, "It would offend the basic principles of fairness that failures by the justice system, for which the appellant can bear no responsibility," prevent Morgan's appeal.

It allowed the appeal and said the local Court of Appeal should hear and determine Morgan's complaint against his sentence. If the trial records from 2011 still cannot be found, the court said the local judges should decide the case in favour of Morgan. 

It argued that the correct sentence could help Morgan's quest for redress for the alleged breach of his constitutional rights over the delays. 

Morgan was denied leave to appeal to the Privy Council so his lawyers applied for special leave to the Privy Council.

Lawyers Terrence Williams, John Clarke, and Celine Deidrick instructed by Simons Muirhead & Burton argued Morgan's appeal.

Morgan has a relevant criminal record dating back some 33 years prior to 2011, consisting of 72 previous convictions for offences such as fraud, larceny, and forgery. 

In 2022, Morgan pleaded guilty to defrauding veteran reggae singer Marcia Griffiths of approximately $4.8 million. 

- Jovan Johnson and Barbara Gayle

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