ISRAEL KHAN, SC

I would prefer to burn my robe than to practise in a juryless system.” – Pamela Elder, SC, then president of the Criminal Bar Association, 2017.

No tyrant could afford to leave a subject’s freedom in the hands of twelve of his countrymen…trial by Jury ensured that Englishmen got the sort of justice they liked and not the sort of justice that the government or the lawyers or anybody of experts thought was good for them…the pool experience of ordinary people, their common sense and native intelligence is the best instrument for arriving at a just verdict. – Lord Devlin

TRIAL by jury for the people of TT means more than a mere institution of justice, in that it facilitates and promotes the opportunity for the ordinary God-fearing citizens of good character to participate in the administration of the criminal justice system in the delivery of justice in this multiracial country.

Indeed, the jury as an institution is the corner stone of the criminal justice system in Trinbago and thus under the doctrine of Separation of Powers it is indispensible to our participatory democracy because it embraces, promotes and supports the concept of “Government of the people, by the people for the people.”

It should be noted and emphasised that in a criminal trial at the assizes, the accused is usually tried by judge and jury.”

And such a trial is conducted by not only a competent and experienced judge in the criminal division of our Supreme Courts but equally by a competent and experienced prosecutor (from the Director of Public Prosecutions department) and competent and experienced attorney from the private bar who specialises in criminal law.

And now a similar attorney from the Public Defenders Department.

The trial judge is the independent referee between the prosecutor and defence attorney who are the combatants in the criminal arena during a trial. Both the prosecutor and defence attorney (who are officers of the court) are “fighting” for justice for their respective client.

The prosecutor “fights” for the state and the defence attorney for the accused. Hence a fair trial demands that both the prosecution and defence’s attorney must be evenly matached in competence and experience.

In the final analysis, the jury will decide whether the accused is guilty or not guilty.

And this brings me to the vexed question of the raving debate in Trinidad and Tobago on the topic trial by jury.

Chief Justice Ivor Archie, at the ceremonial opening of the 2016 law term called for the abolition of jury trials, stating it was the cause of delays in the criminal justice system and should be replaced with judge alone trials. He said it was a systematic failure.

I remind the citizenry that one of the most famous and celebrated jurists, Lord Devlin stated some 66 years ago, that the first object of any tyrant in White Hall would be to make Parliament utterly subservient to his will; and the next to overthrow or diminish trial by jury, for no tyrant could afford to leave a subject’s freedom in the hands of 12 o