The Caribbean Court of Justice will hear its first-ever criminal appeal from Belize. In January, Eamon Courtenay, the former President of the Bar Association explained to the media that the reason no criminal appeals have made it to the CCJ is because the convicted appellants cannot afford it.
And now Courtenay is representing the first man to take his appeal to that court. That applicant is convicted murderer Gregory August who recently appealed to the Court of Appeal, but failed to convince the judges that his appeal should be allowed. The CCJ judges held a special sitting this morning to hear his application for leave to appeal and be heard as a poor person.
The CCJ panel looked favorably on his application, and granted him permission to appeal his case at a later date before him. They have decided, however, that he must go back to the Court of Appeal to argue new grounds that his attorney is bringing on his behalf. We spoke with his attorney outside of court about the favorable outcome, and the implications of those new grounds. Here's how he explained it:
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Gregory August
"One, what they did was grant special leave for him to challenge his conviction. Two, send the matter back to the court of appeal to deal with the question of sentence and question of a good character direction. And that the matter must be heard as quickly as possible. Once it has been heard and a decision is handed down, it will then go back to the CCJ for us to challenge the whole substantive conviction and sentence."
Reporter
"So can you explain the constitutional matter there when you say life to parole, the constitutional issue...?"
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Gregory August
"The constitution as you know, section 7 of the constitution says no person should be subject to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Now here is a young man in his 20's, who has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The reason for a sentence is, one, deterrence, and two, to ensure that the person pays his debt to society but also to allow that person to reform himself or herself. Now if you do not have a chance of coming out of prison even if you change your life, even if you have served 20 years, even if you are a good and modelled prisoner. The question is, what purpose is your continued imprisonment serving and we say that it is unconstitutional. It is cruel and inhuman to send somebody to prison who has changed his on her life incompletely reformed. Completely rehabilitated himself or herself but can't get out. The Belize advisory council rules section 52 of the constitution and the parole rules, do not provide any avenue for Mr. August to change his life, to reform himself and to come out of prison. So we are saying that, that is unconstitutional and that is what we will be arguing for the court of appeal."
Reporter
"What is the significance of this case as the first appeal of a criminal nature to the Caribbean Court of justice?"
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Gregory August
"Well as you know the director of public prosecutions did not oppose to grant of special leave. One of the reasons for that is as I understand it, is that in her opinion the law as it is on circumstantial evidence needs to be clarified. And therefore she's hoping that because this case was there with solely circumstantial evidence, that we will get some clarity from the CCJ on circumstantial evidence. Then of course there's this new constitutional point which is the section 7 point that I just discussed. So at least on these two areas the CCJ will give guidance and clarification to all of our courts as to the law on circumstantial evidence and minimum mandatory life in prison without parole."
On November 21, 2012, August was convicted by a jury of murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.
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