From Anguilla News

In a media release, the office of Attorney Ralph Thorne stated the following:

On Tuesday August 4th, 2015, the former Premier of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Mr. Michael Misick, through his lawyers Mr.Ralph Thorne, QC instructed by Mr. Beryn Duncanson of Duncanson & Co., applied to the Supreme Court of the Turks & Caicos Islands for declarations that 1) the court established to hear the criminal trial of Mr. Misick and others is unconstitutional; 2) that the Trial Without A Jury Ordinance is unconstitutional; and 3) that the preferment of multiple charges against Mr Misick constituted a breach of the constitutional guarantee for lawful administrative action.

On Wednesday August 5th, 2015, the applications were dismissed by the Chief Justice.

We are mindful of the duties that we as lawyers owe to the Court, to the client, to the public. and to the profession and will do nothing to disturb the compatibility of those duties.

Without offending the duty of respect that we owe to the Court, we are constrained to state that we still however respectfully beg to differ with the decision. Unfortunately, we are now severely limited in seeking further recourse in the appellate court because the Learned Chief Justice accepted the argument on behalf of the State that the applications had been canvassed before and were therefore frivolous or vexatious.

This was a determination made after an entire day’s argument from both sides.

For more on this story go to: http://www.anguillanews.com/enews/index.php/permalink/5205.html

Related story:

Turks and Caicos court dismisses yet more applications by former premier

From Caribbean News Now

PROVIDENCIALES, TCI — Despite similar applications having been made, argued and rejected all the way up to the Privy Council in London, on Wednesday lawyers acting for former premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), Michael Misick, had yet more such applications dismissed by the chief justice.

On Tuesday, Misick’s attorneys had applied to the Supreme Court of the TCI for declarations that 1) the court established to hear the criminal trial of Misick and others is unconstitutional; 2) that the Trial Without A Jury Ordinance Is unconstitutional; and 3) that the preferment of multiple charges against Misick constituted a breach of the constitutional guarantee for lawful administrative action.

The chief justice also denied Misick’s legal team leave to appeal the ruling, accepting the Crown’s argument that the applications had been canvassed before and were therefore frivolous or vexatious.

However, according to Misick’s attorneys, the previous unsuccessful applications had challenged the validity of the trial judge’s appointment, his security of tenure, and matters related to his status, while Tuesday’s application for the first time challenged the constitutional validity of the court in which the trial judge had been appointed to conduct the trial.

It was further contended on behalf of Misick that the earlier unsuccessful applications had challenged the manner in which the Trial Without A Jury Ordinance had been interpreted and applied by the trial judge, while Tuesday’s application challenged the constitutionality of the Ordinance itself.

Ironically, the impracticability of finding jurors with no prior knowledge or opinions on the issues at stake given the very small pool (of approximately 6,000) to choose from in the TCI; and the inevitability that such jurors would be exposed to extra-evidential opinions and information, prompted Misick to submit forcefully to the 2008 Commission of Inquiry into systemic government corruption that trial by jury could not be fair to him.

Case watchers in the TCI have grown frustrated by the many delays in the criminal trials, and Misick and the other defendants have sought to capitalise on this frustration by accusing the prosecution of creating the delays but neglecting to tell their supporters that it is their own actions that have caused some three years of delays.

At every turn, Misick has appealed decisions by the court and has changed attorneys on at least three occasions.

IMAGE: Former Turks and Caicos Islands premier Michael Misick

For more on this story go to: http://www.caribbeannewsnow.com/topstory-Turks-and-Caicos-court-dismisses-yet-more-applications-by-former-premier-27169.html