Judge rules Bishop’s killers’ sentence unconstitutional

THIRTEEN people had their sentences overturned on Tuesday by the Constitutional Court of the Grenada Supreme Court, after Justice Benjamin ruled that the mandatory death sentence imposed on them for the October 1983 murder of Maurice Bishop and 13 others was unconstitutional. In addition, Justice Benjamin ordered that the 13 be moved from the sentenced section of the Richmond Hill Prison to the Remand Section, and be brought before a judge within 42 days for sentencing hearing.

In the handwritten judgment on Tuesday, Justice Benjamin ruled that the decision by the then Governor General of Grenada to commute the death sentence handed down to the 13 to life in prison was unconstitutional and a breach of the Separation of Powers. He also ruled that the failure by the now defunct Grenada Appeal Court to provide a written judgment in the matter was unconstitutional and ordered that the State pay damages for the failure. Justice Benjamin also ordered that damages be assessed by a judge in Chamber and directed that costs be paid in the sum of EC$15,000.

In presenting the handwritten judgment on Tuesday, Justice Benjamin explained that due to the sensitive nature of the matter, he did not want to have the document typewritten for fear that it may have been leaked out before hand. The ruling came after Trinidad attorney Keith Scotland filed a constitutional motion on behalf of the 13, Bernard Coard, Callitus Bernard, Lester Redhead, Christopher Stroude, Hudson Austin, Liam James, Leon Cornwall, John Ventour, Dave Bartholomew, Ewart Layne, Colville McBarnett, Selwyn Strachan and Cecil Prime.

The 13 were found guilty in December, 1986, and sentenced to death for the October 19, 1983 execution-style murders of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several others at Fort Rupert, Grenada. The motion filed by the 13 claimed that the death sentence was in contravention of Section 2 of 15 of the Grenada constitution as better particularised in Section 5(1) of the constitution. That the life sentence was unconstitutional and illegal and is in contravention of Section 2 to 15 of the Grenada constitution as better particularised in Section 3(1), Section 5(1) and Section 8(1) of the constitution. They also claimed that the imposition of the mandatory death sentence on them without regard for the circumstances of the individual cases of each of the 13 amounted to inhumane and degrading punishment or treatment.

In the motion, the 13 also stated that it was not open to the Governor General to impose a prison sentence pursuant to Section 72(1) of the constitution and as such the sentence was not lawful. They also claimed that the State had contravened the fundamental rights of Coard and the others, which was guaranteed to them under Section 2 to 15 of the Grenada constitution as further particularised in Section (3), Section (5) and Section 8(1) of the constitution. Attorney Keith Scotland was assisted in the matter by Rajiv Persad and Cageton Hood, while QC Karl Hudson-Phillip appeared for the State.