Attorney takes Chuck, custos to court over JP rejection

A legal showdown is looming over a decision by Custos of Kingston Steadman Fuller to reject an application by controversial attorney Isat Buchanan to become a justice of the peace (JP).

Buchanan was admitted to practise law in Jamaica in 2017, despite the fact that he has two drug convictions, one locally and the other in the United States, for which he was given a 10-year prison sentence.

But Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has charged that Buchanan failed to disclose either convictions on the form he completed as part of the process to become a JP.

“He never declared it (his conviction in Jamaica). He was asked on the form if he had any previous conviction and he said no,” Chuck claimed in an interview with The Sunday Gleaner.

“And then when the truth came out he was asked ‘but you have previous convictions’ and he said ‘yes’, he did,” the justice minister asserted.

Chuck said it was on this basis that Fuller indicated that Buchanan was disqualified from becoming a JP.

“He didn’t tell the truth. The custos felt that disqualified him immediately,” charged the justice minister, who is also an attorney.

Buchanan confirmed that he has taken both Chuck and Fuller to court, but avoided questions about whether he had declared his convictions on the JP application form.

Instead, he invoked the sub judice rule which bars detailed discussion on pending litigation, and chastised the justice minister for his comments to this newspaper.

“I am surprised as to why the minister of justice, who sits at the helm of the justice ministry, would seek to influence public opinion and possibly that of the judiciary,” he said when asked to respond to the claim that he did not declare his convictions.

BOUND BY THE JUSTICE SYSTEM

“The minister has sought to do so by putting out a statement in relation to a case in respect of which he is a named party and he has not, to date, filed a defence in response to the filed claim,” Buchanan continued.

He said while Chuck may “feel comfortable flouting the rules of our justice system, I am bound by them”.

Said Buchanan: “I am an attorney-at-law who is aware of the canons of this noble profession and, accordingly, I am bound by the sub judice rule. That is, where a matter is under judicial consideration before the court, the parties are prohibited from discussing it in public.”

Buchanan also expressed the view that Chuck’s utterances will prejudice his constitutional right to have his case heard by an impartial tribunal.

“This discussion is more egregious coming from the minister of justice, whose portfolio judiciary falls under,” he told The Sunday Gleaner.

Chuck acknowledged that he and Fuller have already been served with court documents related to the lawsuit, and said they have been forwarded to the office of the attorney general.

“I have provided an affidavit and I think the custos provided an affidavit,” he disclosed.

He revealed, too, that he offered to assist Buchanan with his desire to become a JP.

“I said to him, ‘Why don’t you wait until I modify the law, which I intend to do, so that matters like yours can be expunged’. And once it’s expunged, you are in a better position,” Chuck said, recounting a conversation he said he had with Buchanan.

According to Chuck, this offer was rejected.

“He said he must be commissioned [as a JP] and that I should overturn the custos’ position, which I said I am not doing.”

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com