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Alleged Rodwell Williams Shooter Says He Didn’t Get Justice At Trial W/o Jury
posted (March 20, 2015)
22 year-old Akeem Thurton, the man who was convicted of attempted murder for the near fatal shooting of attorney Rodwell Williams, got his case heard in the Court of Appeal today. Viewers may remember that Thurton was the first person to stand trial without jury, which happened before the Chief Justice, Kenneth Benjamin, in February and early March of 2012. From the witness stand, the victim, Rodwell Williams, identified Thurton as the gunman who shot him in the abdomen as he exited his law office on Albert Street west on May 31, 2010.

Thurton didn't have any attorney in that trial, but for today's Appeal Court hearing, he had two attorneys to argue the case for him,:Bryan Neal, and American Jamaican Nancy Mae Anderson who has been a practicing attorney in Jamaica for over 34 years. Anderson has done a lot of human rights case, and she and Neal decided to take on Thurton's case on a pro-bono basis.

Before the Appeal Court panel, the duo presented a total of 20 grounds of appeal that including a challenge to the changes to the criminal law which allow for trials without jury. Their contention was that the amendments are unconstitutional. Specific to Thurton's case however, his attorneys submitted that he should not have been the first defendant to be tried without a jury, and that because he was charged and arraigned for this offence before the amendments came into effect, the judge erroneously applied retroactivity to his case and tried him without a jury. Another major ground was the fact that Thurton was denied a fair trial because he did not have any attorney to represent him at the Supreme Court trial.

Today's appeal lasted for almost 5 hours, and we were outside of court to hear from his attorneys:

Nancy Mae Anderson - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"There is several grounds and the record is a public record that you can actually look at. But our main thing is that because he had no legal representation, no assistance in presenting his defence in the case, that he was denied a fair trial and therefore the conviction is unsafe. There were other things, but that's just the main thing."

Reporter
"In court, the judges and the DPP spoke to the limits to which a judge sitting alone can properly assist a defendant without seeming to take his side and that seem to be a main concern. What is your view as to the standard with regard to that?"

Nancy Mae Anderson - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"That is a big concern. The duty of a judge, as it says in other cases, is to assist and unrepresented defendant. How far that goes and in particular, this judge was in a particular circumstance where he was supposed to judge law and facts, because he was sitting without a jury. It becomes even more difficult and so it's an important case in that respect as well, because hopefully the court will laid down some things that how a judge should exercise his duty in none jury trials and you will have others coming up."

Reporter
"What made you take on this case?"

Nancy Mae Anderson - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"I came a couple of years ago, almost 3 years ago and heard that he had been unrepresented, that he still had no representation on appeal and with Mr. Neal's assistance, we went to see him in prison, spoke to him, like what we heard and his character and how he was behaving and agreed to take on the matter. It's been a lot of work, but this kind of work is rewarding."

Bryan Neal - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"This is the culmination of months of work. Mrs. Anderson and I work together on this case for months and we are glad that it had finally come to a conclusion and we await hopefully a favorable decision next week Friday."

Nancy Mae Anderson - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"There is a number of different decisions that the court can make. They can dismiss the appeal, they can allow the appeal and quash the conviction. They can order a retrial and it is very heartening, they have said that in a very short period, within a week, they will come with a decision. So, next week Friday, I hope you are all here. I am sorry I can't be here, but I am very glad that I came and very inspired that I was able to do this."

Thurton is serving a 15 year sentence, and should the Court of Appeal rule in his favor, his attorney is pushing for a full acquittal instead of a re-trial. He has already served almost 3 years in jail.

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