Sykes Blames Lawyers for Trial Delays

A grand waste of his time was how Chief Justice Brian Sykes described Tuesday’s sitting of the Klansman Gang Trial. He blasted the attorneys in court for their failure to examine records as instructed the day before. This follows his estimation that such delays will push the trial beyond the legal term.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes stormed out of the courtroom after an abrupt adjournment. This is due greatly to the failure of attorneys to ensure records were examined before Tuesday’s sitting of the trial.

When the Attorney for defendant Pete Miller began his presentation of the dispatch records for his client, He called a witness to the stand. The veteran staff officer for the Horizon Remand Center confirmed seeing Pete at the facility.

In 2017 the witness was the overseer of the reception area. After being handed the dispatch book for 2016/2017. He confirmed that Miller was dispatched to court in Halfway Tree on March 7, 2017. Usually, information is disclosed to the appropriate party for them to decide if they want to contend the contents of the record. When the dispatch book was passed around for the prosecution to examine Sykes became agitated. It was at this time a fuming Chief Justice lambasted the attorneys for not using the time day before to examine the records.

Sykes said that to have these records being seen during the day’s proceedings was “a grand waste of my time”. He urged that any other relevant documents be examined before the next day. The records are from the Horizon Remand Center and Spanish Town Lockup.

Court is adjourned until 10 am Wednesday

Reporter: Jhanielle Powell