Attorney and Juror in hot water over links in Lusignan case

Attorney and Juror in hot water over links in Lusignan case

High Court Judge, Navindra Singh on Tuesday issued a stern rebuke to the Jury Foreman in the just concluded Lusignan murder case after it was revealed that the same juror is a client of Attorney at Law Nigel Hughes who served as a Defense Attorney in the same case.

The Jury had handed down a Not Guilty verdict for the two men James Anthony Hyles and Mark Royden Williams who were charged for the murder of the 11 persons who were brutally killed at Lusignan in 2008. The State has since indicated its intention to appeal the case and may now have more grounds for the appeal.

The Judge called the Jury Foreman in Court today and admonished him for sitting on the Jury although he was a client of one of the leading Attorneys in the matter. The Attorney, Nigel Hughes represented one of the two murder accused in the trial that stretched out for months in the High Court.

The Judge banned the juror over his decision not to disclose the relationship he shared with an attorney in the case. Judge Navindra Singh also reminded the jury foreman that during the beginning of the trial, he inquired from the jury if any of them had any links to any of the Attorneys in the matter and none of the jurors indicated that such was the case. Judge Singh told the juror that he was lucky that the time has elapsed for him being charged for being in contempt of Court.

News Source understands that the Court found out about the attorney and client relationship between the juror and the Defense Attorney after the verdict had already been handed down.

 

A number of legal minds have said that the Attorney should have also disclosed to the Court that one of the jurors was his client and has been his client for a number of years.

The issue could come up for discussion by the Guyana Bar Association.

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