Noted Defense Attorneys Dr. Henry Browne QC and Chesley Hamilton
Defense attorneys in St. Kitts have taken a stand against a fee scale implemented by the Attorney General’s Office by refusing to take on any new capital case assignments.
At the opening of the January assizes on Tuesday (Jan 19), several defense attorneys met with trial Judge Justice Marlene Carter in her chambers to notify her of the situation, and that the status quo would remain until the matter was resolved by the Legal Department.
Last week the attorneys were notified that with immediate effect, the government will pay lawyers with less than ten call years $10,000 for murder cases going to trial, and $15,000 for attorneys with ten or more call years. They get $1000 per day for trials.
Lawyers will be paid $3500 if a defendant pleads guilty to a lesser charge as opposed to going to trial for murder or manslaughter; and $6,500 on appeal.
Some lawyers charge clients $30,000 and upwards for murder cases.
Before the new policy, lawyers submitted bills to government based on their own fees.
The lawyers claim they are already not being paid properly or not being paid at all to represent defendants charged with capital offences such as manslaughter and murder, when assigned by the government to do so.
QC Dr. Henry “Stougumber” Browne, one of the top defense lawyers in the federation, told The Observer some of the cases take up to three or more years and require a lot of work.
“Murder cases are very difficult cases,” he pointed out.
He said the Attorney General, Vincent Byron Jr., by putting a flat fee per case across the board, was undervaluing attorneys’ work.
“It is difficult for me to understand how a man who has never tried a high court criminal case could determine how much a Queens Counsel should be paid,” said Dr. Browne.
Another criminal attorney pointed out that they would have to appear at every assizes and spend hours preparing for these matters. The lawyers also accept assignments for lesser charges even though they are only paid for capital assignments.
Chesley Hamilton, another noted criminal defense lawyer, says it is on a matter of principle that they were taking this stance. He says all he wants is “equal pay for work of equal value”, that is, performance-based remuneration.
The new policy by the AG’s office is geared toward “awarding delay and failure rather than efficiency”, he claims.
“The Attorney General wants to pay people less when a matter is won on No Case Submission and more when a matter goes to trial and extra for each day, and an additional sum on appeal when the attorney loses; therefore he is rewarding failure over efficiency and success, that is the overriding principle.”
Hamilton disclosed that he submitted a bill for several cases disposed of before the new policy came into effect yet he received a cheque for an amount calculated using the new scale.
In court on Tuesday, he was listed as the attorney of record to represent Jahari Bart, who is to be retried for murder; however Hamilton explained that due to the contention over the fees, he had difficulty proceeding. He represented Bart at the initial trial, and again at an abandoned retrial.
The lawyers made it clear they “have no difficulty” with accepting court assignments, their issue was with the government’s scale of fees.
The judge has over the past few assizes, asked attorneys to assist defendants charged with serious offenses such as robbery, wounding, and sexual matters.