Mental medical ordered for killer

JUSTICE PETER Jamadar has instructed the State to have a psychiatrist medically examine a convicted killer who is in prison at the mercy of a “President’s Pleasure” sentence, in order to determine his fitness for release from jail.

Jamadar made the order in the San Fernando High Court on Friday in the constitutional motion attorneys have filed on behalf of John Lewis, 54. Lewis has been in prison for the past 28 years after he was found guilty but insane, for chopping a man to death. aAttorneys Mark Seepersad, instructed by Gerald Ramdeen, are contending that three recommendations have been made by prison authorities for Lewis to be release, yet he remains incarcerated. A “President’s Pleasure” sentence does not constitute an indefinite period of incarceration, the motion stated. Rather, a guilty but insane “President Pleasure” sentence is for a period until the prisoner is found, based on a medical examination, no longer to be insane.

At Friday’s hearing in the First Civil Court, the prison reports and recommendations were produced by State Attorney Sanjeev Lalla. In three reports between March 2002 and August this year, the prison welfare officer recommended to the Prison’s Commissioner that Lewis be granted a “Presidential Pardon”. The report stated in part, “He should be granted a ‘Presidential Pardon,’ $2,000, clothing, shoes and his earnings as provided for by the prison rules to tidy him over his period of adjustment.” Justice Jamadar ordered that a psychiatrist report be forwarded to the court upon examination of Lewis by a psychiatrist to be agreed to by the State and the prisoner’s attorneys.