Defence lawyer slams ‘sloppy’ US documents

Senior Counsel Pamela Elder yesterday described the work put into the documents submitted to the Attorney General’s office by the US State Department as “sloppy.” The bundle, comprising documents relating to the extradition of Muslimeen member Lance Small to the US, contained an affidavit sworn to by the main US witness, Keith Glaude, but it had not been certified by a Commissioner of Affidavits. Elder was arguing against the admissibility of the documents into evidence.

Small, aka Olive Enyahooma-El, is wanted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where it is alleged that on May 30, 2001, he attempted to import 60 AK-47 rifles and ten Mac-10 machine guns with silencers into Trinidad, contrary to the laws of the US. Glaude, a Trinidad and Tobago national, was convicted of similar charges and has served a two-year sentence in the US. Douglas Mendes SC, attorney for the requesting State  argued, however, that the “sloppiness” had only been with regard to Glaude’s affidavit. In response to an application made by Elder on Monday that the bundle had not been authenticated by an official of the US State Department and certified by the principal Consular of Trinidad and Tobago at the TT Embassy in Washington, Mendes said Section A:2 of the Extradition Act did not specify that a statement on oath must be made. “As long as the contents are in keeping with the requirements of the Treaty, the documents are admissible,” he argued.

After giving the court a vocabulary lesson from the Oxford dictionary regarding the difference between the meanings of certify and authenticate, Mendes insisted that the Principal Consular, Paul Byam, could not certify the authenticity of a document because he had not been present when it was sworn. That authentication, he said, had come from the relevant personnel from the US State Department. To ask that the documents be authenticated by Byam, Mendes said, was “an unreasonable interpretation.” Elder, however, expressed concern about Mendes’ seeming uncertainty about the Section under which he intended to proceed. “He has referred to Article 7 and Section 19 2:A,” Elder said. “He said he was proceeding under Section B. There are serious legal issues arising here,” she added. 

Confirming that his intention was to continue with the proceedings under Section B of the Act, Mendes said Glaude’s affidavit had satisfied the conditions of the Treaty regarding certification and authentication because it had been sworn before a notary public. This, he said, was evidenced by the affidavit sworn to by assistant District Attorney Roger Powell on February 18, in which Powell had indicated that Glaude’s affidavit had been notarised. Senior Magistrate Jo-Anne Connor is expected to give her ruling regarding the admissibility of the documents into evidence today.