In most locales in the developed world, Appellate Courts do not disturb lower courts’ rulings unless a trial judge erred egregiously in a way that prejudiced a defendant’s case tilting the case toward the prosecution. In fact, Appellate Courts seldom tamper with the lower courts’ decisions but may ask the lower court to clarify a particular ruling.
Unless there is new/exculpatory evidence, Appellate Courts generally side with lower courts’ findings. Essentially, doing no harm. Constant meddling by Appellate Courts brings the competence of lower courts into question, opens the court to questions of corruption and skewed affiliations, and generally erodes confidence in the rule of law. Jamaica is a prime example of this; she has exceptionally high crime numbers derived from several issues, the least of which are poverty, archaic/inadequate laws, and liberal judges who supplant common sense and the laws for their own emotional leanings. I am not a lawyer, so I will leave the legalese to others to argue. I will attempt to talk about another particular case in a simple, common-sense way that everyone may understand.
Nothing, in my opinion, has caused more harm to our country than the liberal Judges, most of whom are Alums of the University of the West Indies. The latter has been a hotbed of liberal Marxist/Leninist theology from as far back as the 1960s. No one can pass through those doors untainted by the corrosive poison of liberal-socialist dogma. Many Jamaicans point to poverty and lack of social intervention as reasons for our country’s high incidences of crime. To them, I say two words, Vietnam, and Indonesia. These two nations in Asia had tremendously suppressed wages and low living standards, yet their crime statistics are much different from ours. The Jamaican Nation is soft on criminal behavior. Jamaican laws encourage criminality. The country’s judges are criminal-coddling elitists Jack-asses. There has been no shortage of outcry from me in this medium about the criminal enabling Judges who populate the country’s courts. As such, I have consistently called for truth in sentencing which essentially removes the ability of judges to circumvent the laws with their liberal socialist agenda of social engineering.
Jamaican trial lawyers oppose mandatory minimum sentencing for certain crimes, which is a good indicator of the rule of law. Of course, the pretentious nation and the criminal-loving politicians would never seriously consider putting teeth into the nation’s penal code out of fear they become ensnared by it. So the country saunters along with the old laws, liberal judges, and a monumentally high crime rate. A few of the Judges actually attempt to show fidelity to the laws, recognizing the national security implications. However, for the most part, the others go out of their way to be activists, using the bench to institute their liberal views on the country.
Gilbert Kameka, a 48-year-old assistant commissioner of Police, was shot and killed at a house in Irish Town, St Andrew, when he visited his then 18-year-old girlfriend, who had previously had a relationship with Adams. The cop was shot by Adams and robbed of his service revolver. Adams had planned with his ex-girlfriend the day before the murder that “we will come up there to get the gun,” and she agreed.http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131201/news/news5.html
The court found that although the murder entailed a planned, cold-blooded killing, it could not be regarded as falling within the most extreme or exceptional cases. Justice Hazel Harris, Justice Hillary Phillips, and Justice Patrick Brooks held that the judge failed to consider the significant factor as to whether there was any reasonable prospect of reforming the appellant. The court referred to the fact that Adams was gainfully employed up to his arrest.
The social inquiry report said that members of his community had expressed surprise that he committed the murder, and there were excellent reports of his good character. There was also a view Adams had “academic potential,” which the Appeal Court said all weighed favorably to support his reformation.
This is the most nauseating summation I have ever heard. If you can read, get some people to say they are surprised that you did it, you may go out and kill any cop you want to get his gun or whatever reason you may have. That is exactly the message the three criminal-loving trollops sent in overturning the death penalty for this pre-meditated slaughter of a police officer. As I argued during the conclusion of this trial, it was an insult and an affront to the family of Gilbert Kameka that the woman behind it all was rewarded with three years suspended sentence.
A three-year suspended sentence means you spend not one day in prison, despite having agreed to and helped orchestrate a pre-meditated murder. It matters not what her contribution was to the prosecution’s case, be it the totality or otherwise; she should have received a 25-year sentence for her complicity and duplicity. With that said, these three mental retards have shown once again what smart police officers have known for decades. These Elitists who populate the bench have no respect for the Jamaican people, no respect for the laws, and no respect for those who enforce them. That, my dear friends, is a big part of the reason I am writing about this, having left the department after only 9 1⁄2 years of service. It is a disgrace and a damn shame that the family of Gilbert Kameka is further traumatized by those who are supposed to protect them. The points in summation by the above three must shame Judges everywhere. These are not judges; they are left-wing functionaries…
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Mike Beckles is a former Police Detective, businessman, freelance writer, black achiever honoree, and creator of the blog mikebeckles.com.
The Family might have to live in fear for the rest of their lives. that is one reason am glad I left cause I know how long he would spend in freedom when he comes out. We must remember that normal citizens do not know any better, but the policemen and women are standard bearers and so we draft up laws to imprison them for long stretches of time as they have no academic prospects and were not working at the time of any offence he or she may have committed. This is more than a laugh judges come from criminal backgrounds too you know. Maybe it is now time to do background checks on all Politicians, lawyers, Judges, psychologists, psychiatrists and the likes of them all.
Mister Stewart background checks should have been a huge part of the process for all public officials, bar none. From the PM down it matters not who the PM is, they have access to state secrets and National Security information which they should only be able to divulge at the peril of Imprisonmemnt.
I agree..This is a great insult to our judicial system and the family of the policeman’s
family. It is disgraceful that those who should be protecting the citizens of a country is in fact,
part of the problem of criminals running our streets..There is no justice in the courts..That is why many in the rural areas are using vigilante justice..So sad..
My sentiments exactly Ms. Green, I fail to understand how they ignore the obvious consequences of their actions. Particularly when they live in the same society where these maurading murderers roam without consequence, in that little space of 4’411 square miles.