JFJ hopeful that Westmoreland will have jurors to try cops in Mario Deane case

WESTERN BUREAU:

Mickel Jackson, the director of Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ), is hoping that the Westmoreland police will be able to empanel a jury for the trial of the three police officers charged in connection with the death of Mario Deane, following the transfer of the case from St James due to administrative issues.

Jackson told The Gleaner on Monday, following the first appearance of Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant before the Westmoreland Circuit Court, that their case is scheduled to commence on March 3.

“It was a trial date we were trying to get, in order to get the matter under way, when the matter was at the St James Circuit Court,” said Jackson, whose organisation is watching court proceedings on behalf of Deane’s family.

“I think, importantly, when we hear what unfolds for case management, we will get a sense of how prepared the State is and whether or not jury summonses have been issued for this particular matter to be heard.

“I think that, for now, we remain optimistic, but we also urge the police, and the State generally, to ensure that sufficient summonses have been issued so that you can have enough jurors turning up for jury duty, so that the trial can get underway as scheduled for March 3. We are hoping they do their due diligence in avoiding what happened in St James as best as possible,” Jackson continued.

The case against the three officers was transferred to the Westmoreland Circuit Court for trial, following an order from High Court Justice Bertram Morrison during the last hearing of the matter in the St James Circuit Court on November 15, 2024. At that time, the change of venue was ordered due to difficulties in empanelling jurors in St James for the trial to be held in that parish.

During Monday’s first hearing of the case in the Westmoreland Circuit Court, presiding High Court Justice Courtney Daye set the matter for case management on February 21, ahead of the March 3 trial date, to ensure that all documents and other arrangements are in place.

“We can fix a trial date but, apart from a trial date, I need to have a case management date, and the only time that a case management date can be accommodated is on a Friday. Before we reach the trial date, I am requesting a date for case management to ensure that everything is in place for trial on March 3,” Daye told the court before extending the bail of all three defendants to February 21.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice. The charges stem from allegations that they were on duty at the Barnett Street police lockup in Montego Bay, St James when Deane – a 31-year-old man arrested earlier that day for possession of a small amount of ganja – was reportedly beaten while in custody at the facility on August 3, 2014.

Following the alleged incident, Deane was admitted to the Cornwall Regional Hospital in an unresponsive state and died three days later. It is also alleged that Stewart, the senior officer on duty, ordered the cleaning of the cell where the beating took place before investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations arrived.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com

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