Mercia Fraser urges J’cans to embrace jury duty

WESTERN BUREAU:

It took more than ten years, three police officers, and a change of parish before Mercia Fraser could finally say the words she had waited so long to utter: “Now we can go and deal with our closure and say that it is done.”

Fraser, mother of the late Mario Deane, is relieved that justice was finally served after a jury in Westmoreland found Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant guilty in connection with her son’s 2014 death – but she cannot forget how long and painful the road to that verdict was.

Although Deane died on August 6, 2014, three days after he was beaten at the St James-based Barnett Street Police Station lock-up while in custody for possession of a ganja spliff, it was not until 10 years and three months later that a decision was made to transfer the matter from the St James Circuit Court to the Westmoreland Circuit Court for Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant to eventually stand trial.

“I feel good about the matter being tried in Westmoreland because if it was still in St James, it would not have moved on until now. I had to press for it because we were saying, ‘No, this not happening in St James’,” Fraser told The Sunday Gleaner.

Mario Deane died on August 6, 2014, after being beaten into a vegetative state inside a Barnett Street police lock-up for the possession of a single ganja spliff. For nearly a decade, the case stalled in St James – not for lack of evidence, but for lack of something even more basic: jurors.

Over the years, hundreds of juror summonses were issued for sittings in St James – and none were served. Court officials said the public’s reluctance to interact with the police was a major factor. In November 2024, High Court Justice Bertram Morrison called the situation a “national disgrace” after none of the 300 juror summonses issued for that court’s Michaelmas sitting had been served.

It wasn’t until December 2024 – 10 years and three months after Mario’s death – that the case was finally transferred to Westmoreland. Within days, a seven-member jury was empanelled, and the trial began in March 2025. The only delay was due to a juror’s medical condition, quickly resolved with a replacement.

“I was in court in St James one day and I realised there some jurors sitting there, and they were complaining how they did not want to do it, and one man was saying he would rather pay the money (fine),” she said.

Under Section 39 of the Jury Act, anyone who has been duly summoned to serve as a juror but does not attend court without having been properly excused can be fined up to $2,000.

“Coming to Westmoreland, I realised they did not give any trouble there. It was just the one little issue with the juror,” said Fraser, referencing the juror who was excused from the trial for medical reasons.

Now that the verdict is in, Fraser is urging Jamaicans to see jury duty differently – not as a burden, but as a civic responsibility.

“It would be good if you try jury duty, even once, because it would be good to have the experience. I realise people are timid to do it, especially on a murder charge, but it would be good to have the experience,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Fraser’s reflections are underscored by a quiet frustration that the wheels of justice in Jamaica too often turn slowly – especially for poor families like hers.

Attorney-at-law Martyn Thomas, who represented Stewart and Grant, said that while he and Clevon’s attorney, Dalton Reid, were disappointed with the case’s outcome, the willingness of Westmoreland’s jurors to serve was commendable.

“It was a long trial, and there were a lot of stakeholders involved. This trial took 10 years to get off the ground in St James, and we had to move it to Westmoreland to find jurors to try the case, but it just shows that with the cooperation and effort of all the stakeholders involved, we can get the work done. Jurors came out and they served for an extended period of time, and they did not complain,” said Thomas.

The three convicted officers will return to court on July 1 for sentencing. They face life imprisonment for manslaughter and additional penalties for misconduct in public office. Stewart also faces sentencing for attempting to pervert the course of justice, after she allegedly ordered the jail cell cleaned before investigators arrived.

For Fraser, that day in July won’t bring celebration – but perhaps, a quiet step forward.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com