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MINISTER of Justice Delroy Chuck says he will be taking to Cabinet soon, a submission for an increase in the level of fees paid to legal aid lawyers as well as a new method of payment for their services.
Chuck was responding to questions about the level and method of calculating fees for the attorneys who represent clients without legal representation in the courts, following last week's Parliamentary approval of a $66-million bill for defending alleged members of two criminal gangs.The issue was raised after Parliament validated $65.8 million to cover 42 claims for payment from lawyers who represented alleged members of the Uchence Wilson Gang, and the notorious Westmoreland-based King's Valley Gang.They were accused of a number of crimes including murder, robberies, terrorism, contract killings, rapes and were tried under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act, also known as the anti-gang legislation.Chuck, in piloting the validation and indemnification Bill for the payment through the House last Tuesday, confirmed that 28 lawyers, representing 34 accused persons, were paid $55.3 million for the 19-month trial of alleged gang leader Uchence Wilson and others, while $10.5 million was paid to those representing alleged members of the King's Valley Gang.Wilson's gang was accused of wreaking havoc in St Catherine, Clarendon, St Andrew, St Mary, Manchester, Trelawny, and St Ann, and was busted in December 2017. The police said the gang members gained more than $400 million from illegal activities across the island and were linked to 12 licensed firearms that were reported stolen during 18 robberies.Wilson was handed a 26-year prison term, and eight of his cronies sentenced to between four and 16 years' imprisonment for various crimes ranging from murder to rape.Godfrey and his five alleged gang members were found not guilty.The verdicts raised questions about the ability of the prosecutors to win other gang-related cases now before the court.Chuck told the Observer that there is some concern about the anti-gang legislation and the trial of more than 40 alleged members of the St Catherine-based Klansman Gang.The trials of Wilson and King's Valley alleged gangsters, which cost some $66 million, has strained the resources of the Legal Aid Council. The justice ministry eventually reached an agreement with the lawyers to a payment averaging $2 million per attorney to resolve the issue regarding payment for their services.Chuck said that after months of conflict with the lawyers, he agreed that the best thing to do was to validate the role of the council and indemnify those involved in the action.He explained that when the Legal Aid Act was enacted it was not contemplated that there would be such lengthy cases, so what was paid to the lawyers was significantly more than would be allowed under the Act."When the Legal Aid Act was being put together, no one contemplated that there would be these lengthy, complex cases. So one was thinking about one or two defendants and cases that would last one to two weeks," said Chuck."Now when the gang cases came up, it was clear from the very first Uchence Wilson matter that it would last about three months," he stated.According to Chuck, after the accused persons sought legal aid to support their defence, he was told that the lawyers would not do the cases for less than $2 million, because it was not legal aid but an actual trial which could last for several months."When it went into months I indicated to the attorneys that the fees would have to be negotiated - because there is no question [that] if it would go to six months we would [then] be looking at about $4 million for each attorney. That was clearly out of the question. So the truth of the matter is that the lawyers got an average of about $2 million each," explained Chuck.He said that the Godfrey trial cost about $1 million per lawyer, as it went on for about six months and involved only six accused persons. However, no regulations were prescribed under the Legal Aid Act to provide for the varied tariff of fees.The justice minister said that because of the situation, a decision has been taken to enact legislation to validate the payment of the fees in good faith under the varied tariff, and to indemnify persons liable to be proceeded against in respect of the payments.Chuck said he thinks that the time has come for the tariff of legal aid fees to be examined, and a more realistic maximum than the current approximately $140,000 fee be set. In addition, he wants the Parliament to make a decision as to how to determine the level of payments to senior, junior and independent attorneys involved in the cases.