FIX THIS MESS

This is the call of 11 of this country’s leading senior lawyers as well as the Law Association, to Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC) on the appointment of former Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar as a high court judge, her subsequent resignation two weeks later and her apparent reappointment to the magistracy.

Eleven members of the inner bar - Senior Counsel Martin Daly, Sophia Chote, Claude Denbow, Alvin Fitzpatrick, former attorneys general John Jeremie and Anand Ramlogan, Gilbert Peterson, Pamela Elder, Seenath Jairam, Avory Sinanan and Israel Khan - yesterday said they were ‘extremely alarmed’ by events surrounding Ayers-Caesar’s appointment.

“Our alarm is heightened by the obvious and considerable distress and anxiety being experienced by persons with matters left unfinished at the time of her appointment to the High Court,” the 11 Senior Counsel noted. The Law Association, meanwhile, has hinted at possible legal action arising out of the bungling of Ayers-Caesar’s appointment to the High Court.

Ayers-Caesar’s resignation came days after irate prisoners rioted at the magistrates’ court in Port-of-Spain after they were told their matters – some of which were part heard before the former chief magistrate - had to be adjourned until further instructions were given on how to proceed following Ayers-Caesar’s elevation.

APPOINTED, RESIGNED Just two weeks into her appointment as a judge, Ayers-Caesar resigned, admitting she failed to inform the JLSC about part-heard matters, reported to be 50, still on her magistrates’court docket. In a simultaneous statement, the Judiciary indicated the JLSC had met and agreed to restore Ayers-Caesar to the magisterial bench.

But in their statement, the 11 ‘silks’ stressed it would be unwise for Ayers-Caesar to resume duties as a magistrate. “We believe that before any solution can be proffered, there are several unanswered questions must be dealt with expeditiously. We are firmly of the view that it would be imprudent and unwise for Mrs Ayers-Caesar to resume duties as a Magistrate until such time.

We have brought concerns, the Senior Counsel said, on a lack of essential information to the attention to the President of the Law Association in the full expectation that the Association will take all necessary steps to vigorously pursue obtaining said information. “In the event the Law Association does not pursue the quest for this information from the relevant parties, this concerned group of Senior Counsel will reconvene to treat with the matter as appropriate,” the 11 ‘silks’ noted.

REAL DANGER In a separate statement yesterday, president of the Law Association Douglas Mendes SC, said Ayers-Caesar’s elevation created a real danger that a significant number of her partheard matters would have to be heard all over again. “The burden which that would have imposed on an already over-burdened magistracy, the further delays which would have been caused and the expense and prejudice which would have been visited upon defendants, threatens to bring the administration of justice into disrepute,” Mendes said.

He said that while noting the ‘right and courageous’ decision of Ayers-Caesar to resign her judgeship and make herself available to complete her cases in the lower court, there is doubt as to if she could lawfully continue the trials she left behind, even with the consent of the accused person.

“There is no doubting that once lawfully re-appointed she would be empowered at the very least to start her partheard matters over from the beginning,” Mendes said. Lawyers have indicated some of the matters before the former chief magistrate were as much as five years old, with accused persons being held without bail for that length of time as they have been charged with capital offences, namely murder.

“There is precedent pointing both ways.

The Law Association expresses no opinion on the strength or otherwise of either viewpoint.

That is a matter which will eventually be resolved in court and it is best not to further rehearse the legal arguments in the public arena,” Mendes said.

He did, however, express concern that there appeared not to have an established mechanism to ensure that, before elevation, a magistrate would complete all part-heard matters which could not properly be passed on to another magistrate.

“We consider that to be a serious flaw in the system and would urge the Judicial and Legal Service Commission to take immediate steps to preclude a similar occurrence in the future,’ Mendes recommended.

He also acknowledged receipt of a petition calling for a special general meeting of the association to debate a resolution calling for Chief Justice Ivor Archie and the members of the JLSC to resign.

This meeting is expected to be held on or before June 5, Mendes said.

61 NAMES ON PETITION Yesterday, over 61 signatures were obtained from lawyers for the special general meeting.

The petition also calls for the passage of a vote of no confidence in the CJ and the JLSC. It has also been asked that the meeting be opened to the media.

Archie, as CJ, is chairman of the JLSC which also comprises of retired Justices Roger Hamel- Smith and Humphrey Stollmeyer and former Public Service Commission chairman Dr Marjorie Thorpe. The petition noted that the actions of the CJ and the JLSC have ‘seriously undermined and diminished public confidence in the administration of justice in TT in a manner that may be irreparable.’ “Serious questions arise as to whether the JLSC has the power to reinstate Mrs Ayers-Caesar, she, having resigned her post of Chief Magistrate, by implication when taking up her appointment and assuming duties as High Court judge,” the attorneys’ petition noted.

“To date, no statement has been forthcoming from the JLSC despite many calls for the Chief Justice and the other members of the Commission to resign.

The JLSC has a duty to the public and in the execution of its constitutional mandate to explain to the public the circumstances in which these appointments and reappointments have been made and they have failed in this duty,” the document noted.