NASSAU, BAHAMAS — With hundreds of backlogged cases awaiting trial, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe advised yesterday that the government wants to introduce more plea bargaining.
Munroe made the comment as he opined on the controversy surrounding the plea deal given to a 40-year-old man for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl.
He said: “Hopefully we have more plea bargains because if we don’t have more plea bargains you’re just never going to try all of the cases.”
He noted that the United States plea bargain’s 90 percent of their cases.
“If we have 100 murders in a year and if a murder takes one month to try, to try 100 murders will take 100 months,” Munroe sought to explain.
“[When you] divide that by 10 judges, you are talking about 10 months just to go through 100 murder cases and you haven’t touched any armed robbery cases, you haven’t touched any housebreaking cases, you haven’t touched any sexual offenses cases.”
He said when plea bargaining as a defense attorney, he would look at the case and seek to determine what sentence his client would get if they were convicted at trial.
He said he would consider his client’s chances of winning and then advise them based on that whether to take a plea.
If a person pleads guilty, their sentence should be reduced by one third or 30 percent when agreeing to a plea bargain.
Chief Justice Brian Moree has said while the use of plea bargains in The Bahamas has picked up in recent years, he supports a more “robust approach” to these agreements in appropriate cases.
In August 2020, attorney Christina Galanos expressed concern about the backlog of cases in the Supreme Court, an issue exacerbated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and suggested defendants be encouraged to take plea bargains to reduce the number of trials on the court’s calendar.
She noted that for a number of cases the usual backlog of three to five years had been extended to 10 years or more – admitting that she also has a number of clients who have not been tried within a period of ten years or more.
Galanos indicated that while more judges can be appointed to attempt to address the backlog, significant challenges remain in the judiciary ranging from the resources of criminal attorneys, space, and the rate of crime occurring.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the backlog of cases both on the criminal and non-criminal sides.
Munroe insisted yesterday that there is a “dray load” of cases still awaiting trial.
“The public can be offended about sentencing level all they like what the public has to do in order for us to bring sense and balance is one, what is the offense, two what is the sentencing policy, [and] what are the penalties awarded,” he said.
Loading ...
