Robert Hart, Parliamentary Reporter
THE JAMAICAN Bar Association (JBA) yesterday laid out a host of concerns about the proposed plea-bargaining legislation expected to assist in the fight against organised crime.
Chairperson of the criminal law and procedure committee of the JBA, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, addressed a joint select committee of Parliament examining the Criminal Justice (Plea Negotiations and Agreements) Bill, which the Government hopes to have debated in August.
Mrs. Samuels-Brown, an attorney-at-law, told the committee that the legislation could potentially impact on the integrity of the judicial system and that strict safeguards must be put in place.
PRACTICAL TERMS
"I'm just trying to put it in practical terms, that people do give evidence against other persons to save their own skins and they minimise the role they played in crimes and attribute increased roles to others in order to save their skins," Mrs. Samuels-Brown said.
The JBA representative said it was not inevitable that the proposed plea-bargaining system would be corrupted, but that there was such an inherent danger that needed to be guarded against.
She proposed that when evidence is given against an accused person, by another person who has bargained with the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), full disclosure on nine areas should be provided.
Among these areas are convictions or pending charges against the plea-bargaining witness.
Mrs. Samuels-Brown also suggested full disclosure of the terms of the agreement and aspects of the negotiations leading up to the agreement between the DPP and the witness.
"Suppose he insisted on being let go scott-free for a heinous crime which he himself committed and the DPP managed to get him to do a guilty plea and serve five years?" Mrs. Samuels-Brown said.
"Then my view is that what he was asking for in the first place is indicative of his character and, therefore, should be revealed," she added.
PROVIDING EVIDENCE
Mrs. Samuels-Brown said the law should ensure a plea-bargaining witness is sentenced before providing evidence against another person.
She said this would remove the potential impact of an impending sentence, in a witness's own case, on the testimony he gives in another case.
The attorney also called for corroborative evidence to be required in cases based on the testimony of a plea-bargaining witness.
Justice Minister and committee member Senator A.J. Nicholson said it was clear the regulations would be required for the proper functioning of the new legislation.
He suggested consultation with the Bar Association and other interest groups during the drafting of the regulations.
DPP Kent Pantry Q.C., argued that the agreements between a plea-bargaining witness and the prosecution should be confidential to that person and his attorney.
The committee meets again on June 29.
