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ANOTHER stay has been placed on the delay-plagued corruption trial of former junior energy minister Kern Spencer and his co-accused Coleen Wright.
Supreme Court judge Justice Horace Marsh yesterday afternoon granted a stay of the proceedings following an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn.
Llewellyn applied for the stay after Senior Corporate Area Magistrate Judith Pusey yesterday morning refused to hear an application by Llewellyn, asking her to recuse herself from presiding over the trial.
The application asking Pusey to recuse was made on the grounds of perceived bias.
"The learned trial judge, in the conduct of this matter, has demonstrated an apparent bias and falls within the category of disqualification by conduct. The impugned conduct includes language and posture against the prosecution and its agents," the application stated.
"Such language and posture have effectively caused a stay of the prosecution's case for a period of seven months and prevented it from proceeding," the application continued.
If Llewellyn is successful in having Pusey removed, the case will have to start over before another magistrate.
According to the Supreme Court order, the trial should be stayed until November 24. This order also affects a ruling that is supposed to be made by Pusey on Monday as to whether or not the corruption trial should be thrown out on the basis of abuse of process.
Justice Marsh has also ordered that Llewellyn serve all documents pertaining to the recuse application on Pusey "on or before November 17 for a November 25 hearing on the matter".
The charges against Spencer and Wright stem from the handling of millions of energy-saving bulbs, a gift from the Cuban Government that ended up costing the Jamaican taxpayers millions of dollars to distribute. The prosecution has alleged that suspects used proceeds from the project for their own benefit.
Supreme Court judge Justice Horace Marsh yesterday afternoon granted a stay of the proceedings following an application by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn.
Llewellyn applied for the stay after Senior Corporate Area Magistrate Judith Pusey yesterday morning refused to hear an application by Llewellyn, asking her to recuse herself from presiding over the trial.
The application asking Pusey to recuse was made on the grounds of perceived bias.
"The learned trial judge, in the conduct of this matter, has demonstrated an apparent bias and falls within the category of disqualification by conduct. The impugned conduct includes language and posture against the prosecution and its agents," the application stated.
"Such language and posture have effectively caused a stay of the prosecution's case for a period of seven months and prevented it from proceeding," the application continued.
If Llewellyn is successful in having Pusey removed, the case will have to start over before another magistrate.
According to the Supreme Court order, the trial should be stayed until November 24. This order also affects a ruling that is supposed to be made by Pusey on Monday as to whether or not the corruption trial should be thrown out on the basis of abuse of process.
Justice Marsh has also ordered that Llewellyn serve all documents pertaining to the recuse application on Pusey "on or before November 17 for a November 25 hearing on the matter".
The charges against Spencer and Wright stem from the handling of millions of energy-saving bulbs, a gift from the Cuban Government that ended up costing the Jamaican taxpayers millions of dollars to distribute. The prosecution has alleged that suspects used proceeds from the project for their own benefit.
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