Cops in Mario Deane case to be tried in Westmoreland

The case against the three cops who are charged in relation to the 2014 death of Mario Deane is to be transferred to the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant are set to appear in that court on February 17.

The new date and venue were announced when they appeared in the St James Circuit Court this morning before Presiding High Court Justice Bertram Morrison.

On Thursday Morrison had ruled that the case should be transferred to a jurisdiction outside of St James, where there has been recurring difficulty empanelling jurors for the three cops' trial.

During Thursday's sitting, it had been proposed that the courts in Hanover, Trelawny, or St Ann could be considered as alternative venues. However, all three of those options were subsequently dismissed due to those courts having their own challenges with jurors and case management.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice, arising from allegations that they were on duty at the Barnett Street police pick-up in Montego Bay, St James when Mario 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.

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

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