Cabinet has disclosed that the Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court recommended that the law, which permits for a Judge-alone trial, be made permanent, removing the initial sunset clause.
The Attorney General delivered the news to the members of Cabinet after receiving a letter from the court system’s head.
As a result, the Cabinet decided that it will amend the law.
Cabinet spokesperson Lionel Hurst says that they believe that the move will expedite the delivery of justice.
“The Chief Justice joined in applauding Antigua and Barbuda and wished for the judge-alone trial to be continued as a permanent feature. I believe that she’s of the view that other countries in the region will follow. It lends for efficiency and, of course, instead of having a case heard years after it was brought, it helps to speed up the court system and, of course, to achieve greater efficiency and lower costs” Hurst state.
In response to concerns about impartiality, Hurst noted that judge-only trials have been successful in many countries, with the option to appeal always available.
“There’s always the appeal from a judgment rendered by a court, that is the fairest method by which a judge alone trial can be determined. If the appeals court determines that the judge did not rule fairly, then the opportunity to overturn that decision is presented to the defendant. But I believe that it has been tried in a number of jurisdictions within the English-speaking world to include,
and I have a list of them here, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, the Turks in Caicos, Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, that’s within our region, and then outside of the region, in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom, and of course the United States, all have a judge alone trials.”
Hurst also highlighted the efficiency of judge-only trials compared to jury trials.
“And they can be very efficient, because when a jury is empaneled, the lawyers can be very persuasive of jurors. We’ve seen it in the movies, but outside of the movies, in real life, the lawyers perform for the jury. With a judge, you get less of that, because the judge is going to be cognizant of the law, and also any breach of the law. But with a jury trial, a lot of emotions and so on can be impacted.”
The Chief Justice is said to have applauded Antigua and Barbuda for being the first in the O.E.C.S. jurisdiction to have adopted the law, causing the jurisdiction to join Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos, Belize and Trinidad and Tobago in the region.