Lost Public Confidence — the case of the ODPP

I imagine that a number of good workers can be found among the many that work at the Office of the Director of Prosecutions (ODPP) – this Viewpoint is not about them. If anything, I hope it articulates their feelings that they’re unable to personally express. This Viewpoint is about those who work at the ODPP who collect a good paycheque in return for poor work, and those who instead of furthering the cause of justice impede it due to their undeserving, giant egos.

My personal experience with the former Department of Legal Services, now the ODPP, is that they are woefully disorganized, reckless, wasteful, unfocused, far too often wrong, and in way over their heads. They are usually stubborn when it comes to cases where it makes no sense for them to be so willfully obstinate and laissez-faire about cases where prosecution ought to be vigorously pursued. Far too often, as in my case and numerous others, they persecute instead of prosecute. Where common sense dictates that a person is innocent, they purposefully ignore the obvious, or often fail to recognize it. 

Voltaire’s famous quote “Common sense is not so Common” must be without a doubt the ODPP’s most oft used screen saver, followed closely by “Appearance must always trump Substance” – apparently, one of the greater deciding factors as to whether or not a case is pursued. The claim that each case is carefully scrutinized is laughable at best – it ought to read that the law is applied willy-nilly, depending on the day of the week, and in which direction the wind so happens to blow. 

In my case (for those unfamiliar with it) the Legal Department, in one of their more brilliant moments, wasted 21 Summary Court sessions, 8 Grand Court Sessions and 4 Cayman Island Court of Appeal Sessions over a matter of 0.004 oz of ganja (including tobacco) that did not belong to me. This, despite that 99.9% of the evidence pointed to my innocence. As some of you may recall, the ganja spliff was half smoked – if it belonged to me, as they claimed, it would have shown up in my urine test, it would have contained my DNA, etc. My urine test did not contain drugs, I was not a contributor to the DNA found on the half-smoked spliff, there was no motive for me to carry a half-smoked spliff given that I was not a ganja smoker (I was not about to gain millions of dollars by trafficking 0.004 oz of ganja into the United States), my explanation remained the same from the beginning to the end, etc. 

At the time, my case was being pursued at all cost while many other cases involving far more serious charges were being routinely lost and dismissed in the Cayman Islands Summary and Grand Court. For example, between 2005 and 2010, a total of 38 cases of possession of an unlicensed firearm were dismissed in the Cayman Islands Summary Court and Grand Court.  In August 2010, the Cayman Island Court of Appeal castigated the crown for appearing unprepared in front of the court – the case involved a firearm. One can only wonder what may have happened if the crown had devoted more time to their more important cases. 

There are some commentators who defended Director of Prosecutions Cheryll Richards’ and the ODPP’s appalling record by claiming that the RCIPS provide the ODPP with poor, sloppy, unworkable evidence. My suggestion is that they stop pursuing those cases where the evidence does not exist to convict, no matter how badly they’re itching to get their suspect. Innocent people, and there are a few among the many guilty, should not fall prey to the ODPP's convict-at-all-cost, even if there is not evidence, mentality. More importantly, I would suggest that Ms Richards use her position and influenceto demand and bring about better work by some of her staff and some of the police.

I could write a few more pages on this matter, but I don’t have the time, or the interest. Besides, most readers understand the problem. The fact of the matter is that the ODPP suffers from any number of maladies as a result of a lack of leadership, a lack of focus, and poor choices that they continue to make, etc. Perhaps one commentator sums up the problem best:

“They too bust trying to get Sandra Catron…LOL”

This Viewpoint is in repsonse to an article on CNS: DPP not cops' rubber stamp