Pusey stays - Judge rejects DPP's request, refuses to end Kern trial
Published:Thursday | December 9, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
PROSECUTORS in the Kern Spencer corruption trial are now considering their next move, following the refusal of Senior Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey to recuse herself from the case.
At the same time, Spencer's attorneys will have to continue their fight to prove his innocence, as Pusey refused their application to stay the trial.
Pusey, in one of two rulings handed down yesterday, said the director of public prosecutions (DPP) failed to substantiate her claim of apparent bias.
"Consequently, the application is refused," she said. The DPP has sought to have Pusey removed from the trial, arguing that comments made on the bench during the trial would give the impression to onlookers that she was not fair.
The DPP had taken the matter to the Supreme Court, but Justice Lloyd Hibbert ruled that the application was premature. The application was subsequently made before Pusey who, yesterday, said, "It is my considered view that the case of apparent bias has not been made out."
After the rulings, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Caroline Hay, who represented the DPP, left little doubt that the prosecution would be going to the Judicial Review Court to have Pusey booted.
"We have already indicated what our next course of action would be, but I will have to discuss it with my director (Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn)," she told The Gleaner.
Her comments were in reference to a letter she wrote to the clerk at the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court last month, signalling that the case would be taken to the Judicial Review Court if Pusey does not recuse herself.
The prosecution says it wants the trial to start afresh before a new magistrate.
Meanwhile, defence attorney K.D. Knight, who is representing Spencer's co-accused Coleen Wright, said he accepted both rulings, and repeated accusations that the DPP's office was "judge shopping".
"If the prosecution goes to the Supreme Court for another judicial review it would be scandalous," Knight told The Gleaner.
Meanwhile, Pusey, in her other ruling, dismissed an application made by defence attorneys last month for a stay in the proceedings on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct and abuse of process.
In a written judgment, Pusey said, "The submission by the defence are very compelling.
She, however, said, "The real issue for determination is whether what has transpired is sufficient to invoke the exercise of the court's inherent power to preserve fairness in the proceedings." She said that despite the passage of time, the prosecution's case is in its infancy stage.
The case, which began in September 2008, is now scheduled to resume on May 14 next year. Approximately 30 witnesses are to be called to the stand by the prosecution. The third witness, Rodney Chin, a former co-accused, was on the stand at the time when the trial was stalled.
Spencer, the former junior energy minister, and Wright, his former personal assistant, are on trial for their role in the implementation of the Cuban light-bulb programme.