‘Expert’ status refused for police witness
Published:Wednesday | March 9, 2022 | 12:14 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The prosecution in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial failed on Tuesday in their effort to have a retired gang investigator give evidence as an expert witness.
The police inspector, a 31-year-old veteran who has mainly investigated the St Catherine-based Clansman and One Order gangs, is being called by the prosecution to formally identify defendant Jason Brown as an alleged gang member.
The court heard that the inspector had communicated with Brown and had arrested him in another matter.
Two former members of the gang, the prosecution’s two star witnesses, were unable to properly identify the defendant.
Both testified that they only knew the defendant by his alias, had never seen him, and had only spoken to him over the phone.
However, following Tuesday’s voir dire, a preliminary examination on oath of a proposed witness by the judge and objection from the defence, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes ruled that the inspector would not be accepted as an expert witness but will be allowed to give evidence as a police witness based on the evidence presented in his statements.
Justice Sykes said that based on the guidance provided by the Privy Council and the Court of Appeal for Bermuda, a police officer who is being called as an expert witness must be treated in a special way. That includes advance explanation and disclosure to the defence of assertions or conclusions that are going to be advanced.
The judge also indicated that an expert witness must set out his distinctive qualifications, training, and experience and clearly state the basis of his conclusions.
Justice Sykes added that an expert witness should offer disclosures beyond general information and present opinions that are distinguishable from factual evidence.
The prosecution conceded that the retired inspector’s statement did not meet those benchmarks and that the submission was a standard witness statement about his interaction with some alleged gangsters he had arrested.
Prior to the judge’s decision, several defence attorneys argued against the gang investigator being accepted as an expert witness. Among their main grouses was that he was more of a gang investigator and not a gang expert and would not provide an independent view.
“He is not an unbiased and objective expert. He has a dog in this fight. Mr [name redacted] is really seeking a conviction,” said attorney-at-law Lloyd McFarlane, who is representing reputed leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan.
Another defence attorney, Akuna Noble, who is representing defendant Dwight Hall, said that while the witness had done 37 days of specialised gang training, there was no qualification submitted that validated his status as an expert witness.
The inspector, who was adamant that he was certified as a gang witness in 2018, countered that he had never seen any other expert – ballistic or forensic – providing proof of their qualifications in court.
Meanwhile, earlier in the hearing, the inspector told the court that based on his training, gangs were classified as first-, second-, or third-generation organisations. Those designations were informed by levels of international spread, sophistication, and political influence.
The inspector, who disclosed that he had reviewed more than 100 gang cases and over 1,000 related statements, said that first-generation gangs are loosely organised, lack hierarchical structure, and usually commit minor crimes in their spheres of influence.
Second-generation gangs exert influence on the Government or politicians and have members who will seek to legitimise their illegal operations.
Third-generation gangs, he said, usually have persons in positions of power and authority who dictate to politicians and have national influence.
According to him, the Clansman Gang, based on its organised hierarchical structure and sophistication, was a hybrid of second- and third-generation factions.
Bryan and 32 other alleged gang members are being tried on an indictment with 25 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act.
The One Don Gang is a breakaway faction of the Clansman Gang.
The inspector is expected to take the stand today.