- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 08/Aug 13:45

Dana Seetahal accused challenge DPP on indictment delay

ONE of the men currently detained at the Teteron Barracks, Chaguaramas, accused of murdering former special prosecutor Dana Seetahal, SC, and being involved in a gang, has challenged Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard's explanation for the delay in filing an indictment in the case. Earl Richards' lawyers, Criston J Williams and Aaron Lewis, say it is “unacceptable and unconstitutional.” The two attorneys wrote to Gaspard on August 7, rejecting his status report to the High Court a month earlier, saying it “provides no clarity” and “lacks reasonable justification” for the failure to advance the matter. Justice Carol Gobin, who is presiding over the constitutional motion filed by Richards and suspected gang leader Rajaee Ali, had ordered Gaspard to explain the delay and state whether the prosecution intended to proceed or discontinue. Richards was committed to stand trial in July 2020, nearly five years after his arrest in connection with Seetahal’s 2014 assassination. Gaspard denied there was any undue delay, saying the case was “complex” and involved extensive call data, CCTV footage, and intercepted communications. He noted that the electronic committal bundle — more than 8,100 pages — was only sent to his office between December 2023 and January 2024. He also cited a backlog of about 400 murder cases and resource constraints, adding that rushing the process could risk a flawed indictment that might be quashed. Richards’ lawyers accuse the DPP of hiding behind procedural bottlenecks and failing to meet his constitutional and ethical duties. In the 13-page rebuttal sent to Gaspard on Thursday, they contend that the delay breaches Section 5(2)(f)(ii) of the Constitution, which guarantees a fair and public hearing before an impartial tribunal, and Section 5(2)(h), which protects procedural rights. They also contend Gaspard’s admissions in the status report show that bias existed during the preliminary inquiry — including undisclosed ex parte communications between the presiding magistrate and a prosecutor — making it unconstitutional and contrary to the public interest to proceed. The DPP, they also said, “cannot abdicate” his responsibility to manage prosecutions and “chase up” case files, blaming systemic dysfunction or the judiciary. They also noted that covid19 restrictions could not be used as an excuse, since the courts were deemed an essential service. They said a mindset that treats years-long delays as “normal” is “illogical in a modern democratic society” and risks bringing the administration of justice into disrepute. The lawyers argue that to file an indictment now, knowing about prosecutorial bias and the elapsed time, would fail the “Full Code Test” in the DPP’s own Code for Prosecutors, which requires both evidential sufficiency and public interest. “It is not in the public’s interest, nor that of the Office of the DPP, to achieve a conviction tainted by bias and prosecutorial misconduct,” the letter states. “Delay defeats the course of justice; ‘Justice is sweetest when it is freshest,’” it added. The attorneys demanded a firm decision not to indict Richards “forthwith” and have given the DPP 14 days to respond. Seetahal, a former independent senator and high-profile criminal attorney, was gunned down on May 4, 2014, while driving home in Woodbrook. Eleven men were charged with her murder in 2015. In 2017, the DPP dropped the charge against one accused, who agreed to testify for the state. The post Dana Seetahal accused challenge DPP on indictment delay appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.