Justice Adolph Lucas Retires from the Supreme Court Bench at 75

Adolph Lucas

Upon celebrating his seventy-fifth birthday on December twenty-third, Justice Adolph Lucas reached his retirement age.  As stated in the Constitution of Belize, the high court judge must relinquish his seat on the bench at that time of life.  His departure, however, comes at a critical juncture for the Supreme Court which continues to buckle under the immense weight of cases that have accumulated in the criminal division.  As it stands, the number of persons accused of murder is inching towards three hundred.  Having found that there is a flaw in the criminal justice system, particularly where it concerns trial within a reasonable time for persons accused of committing capital offences, criminal lawyers have been successfully exploiting the process of bail applications.  Justice Lucas, as a Belizean Supreme Court judge, has a stellar record on the bench, with only a few of his decisions being reversed at the appellate level.