Doctors subpoenaed in Mario Deane case

WESTERN BUREAU:

The St James Circuit Court yesterday issued subpoenas for the doctors who examined Marvin Orr and Adrian Morgan, the two inmates charged with murder in connection with the 2014 beating death of Mario Deane, to appear in court on October 4.

Presiding High Court Justice Sharon George made the order for the subpoenas when the case against the two defendants came up for mention during the opening session of the September sitting of the Circuit Court.

Before the subpoenas were issued, lead prosecutor Maxine Jackson told the court that the doctors and the defence lawyers disagreed about whether the psychiatric reports for Orr and Morgan, who are both mentally challenged, addressed specific questions about their mental state.

"The defence counsel have indicated that the reports do not sufficiently answer the question as to the timing of the incident and the mental state of the defendants, but the doctors are of the opinion that they have answered the question," said Jackson.

DEFENCE STRATEGY

Attorney Trevor Ho Lyn, who is representing Orr, said that the defence team wanted to take certain steps since the psychiatric reports were on hand.

"The reports are now here, and the defence wishes to engage this matter in a certain way. It is a matter of when the doctors can come so we will deal with the issues appropriately," said Ho Lyn.

The matter was subsequently set for the new October 4 date. Orr and Morgan were ordered remanded until then.

According to the allegations, on August 3, 2014, Deane was beaten into a coma while he was in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay. He was arrested hours earlier for possession of a ganja spliff.

In the aftermath of the incident, Orr and Morgan, who were also in custody at Barnett Street, were subsequently arrested and charged along with a third inmate, Damion Cargill. Last July, Cargill was judged unfit to answer to the charges or to stand trial and was released into the care of his family.