Update | Keith Clarke murder trial again delayed by juror shortage

The start of the Keith Clarke murder trial this morning suffered yet another delay as a result of a  shortage of jurors.

The Court of Appeal this morning rejected an application by the defence to place the trial on hold.

The defence was appealing Justice Dale Palmer's decision last month that the matter should proceed to trial following a voir dire, ordered by the Court of Appeal to determine whether the director of public prosecutions could rebut the immunity certificates.

However, Justice Dale Palmer was forced to push back the commencement of the trial to Tuesday because not enough jurors were present to start the empanelling process.

The judge reported that there were only 15 jurors present although 63 persons were summoned for jury duty. Thirty-two potential jurors are needed to make up the pool from which a jury is selected.

"It is a little concerning that our numbers are so few given the density of the Corporate Area," Justice Palmer said.

The prosecution, however, wanted to start with the 15 jurors and continue on Tuesday, but defence attorney Peter Champagnie suggested that the matter start afresh on Tuesday.

He said to start with 15 jurors is untidy and disjointed and seemed to be a piecemeal approach to a case of this magnitude.

Given the shortage of jurors and the fact that both parties had some issues to work out, the judge agreed to adjourn until Tuesday.

In the meantime, the judge said the superintendent of police has promised that urgent steps will be taken to contact the persons who were served with summonses for jury duty in an effort to have the numbers increased.

The defendants, lance corporals Greg Tingling, Odel Buckley, and private Arnold Henry, are charged in connection with Clarke's murder.

The businessman was shot 21 times inside his home, located on Kirkland Close in St Andrew, on March 27, 2010, during a police-military operation to apprehend then fugitive drug lord, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

The murder trial was set to begin in 2018 when lawyers for the Jamaica Defence Force surprised prosecutors with immunity certificates that shielded the soldiers from prosecution for their actions during the operation.

The certificates were signed in February 2016 by Peter Bunting, who was minister of national security at the time.

But following a legal challenge, the Constitutional Review Court, in a majority decision handed down in February 2020, ruled that the certificates were manifestly unfair and unreasonable.

However, while overturning that decision in a judgment handed down in January last year, the Court of Appeal affirmed an order by the Constitutional Court that the trial should go ahead.

However, the Court of Appeal overruled the decision of the Constitutional Court, and upheld the validity of the good faith certificates issued by Bunting.

- Tanesha Mundle

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