Lawyers representing murder accused Earl Richards in the Dana Seetahal matter have responded to a correspondence by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard questioning whether there was prosecutorial bias or prosecutorial misconduct during the preliminary inquiry of their client's murder case .
00:00Lawyers representing murder accused Earl Richards in the Dana C. Tell matter responding to correspondence sent by the DPP Roger Gaspard yesterday contended,
00:10quote, there was an admission of undue delay on the DPP's part, as this can neither pass the evidential test nor the public interest required by the full code of conduct,
00:20as you, the DPP, accepted that a bias in prosecution of the case existed, end quote.
00:25Quote, the DPP was asked to respond to a court order by Justice Carroll Gobind filed by the attorneys of Earl Richards.
00:31The lawyers told the DPP in their response to his letter, open quote,
00:35to put the existence of pre-existence bias to a jury will impede the prospects of a successful prosecution, thereby rendering it not in the public's interest to waste public funds, close quote.
00:47The DPP in his letter in paragraph 3 said, quote,
00:50I am unable to fix the date on which the claimant would be indicted as I have not made a firm decision to indict, close quote.
00:57Richards' lawyers responded, stating, open quote,
00:59The Constitution does not define the responsible person for the delay.
01:03It presumes that every arm of the prosecutorial pipeline will act by the procedural rules of justice.
01:10According to Section 90 of the Constitution, the DPP is in charge of prosecution.
01:15This includes the management of the files, close quote.
01:18The DPP further argued in his letter in paragraph 5 that, open quote,
01:23The criminal process in TNT is systematically slow, due in part to the statutory framework,
01:29limited human resources, and the number of murder matters in the docket of the office of the DPP,
01:34approximately 400, close quote.
01:37Richards' attorneys from Quantum Legal responding to this said, open quote,
01:41The dysfunctional system is no excuse for the procedural delay over this period of time.
01:46It cannot be that when reviewing detention within the case management powers,
01:51the common responsibility to the prosecutor accepts such a delay within the power of review, close quote.
01:57They added, open quote,
01:58According to your admission, the pace of increase of serious charges based upon the resources you have
02:04shall not address the current status quo and the delay to the criminal justice system shall increase.
02:09This cannot be logically acceptable, close quote.
02:13The DPP in his letter further indicated that Richards was committed to stand trial during the lockdown of the COVID-19 period,
02:19and he only received Richards' committal bundle in January 2024.
02:24But Richards' lawyers shot back, stating, open quote,
02:27COVID-19 did not affect the indictment.
02:30We opine this is an unacceptable excuse.
02:33Further, the judicial system considered an essential service during the COVID-19 period, close quote.
02:38His lawyers further argued, open quote,
02:41To be crystal clear, the Constitution of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago does not accept the blaming of the judiciary
02:46as a legitimate excuse to, open quote,
02:50deprive a person of the right to such procedural provisions as are necessary for the purpose of giving effect
02:56and protections to the aforesaid rights and freedom, close quote.
03:00There were several other points of contentions raised by Richards
03:03as he sought to clarify whether there was prosecutorial bias or misconduct.
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