Decision on bail for Browns set for Tuesday
Any hopes of Andrew and Floyd Brown being released before the weekend evaporated this afternoon when Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord announced that he will not deliver his decision regarding bail for the brothers until ten a.m. on Tuesday. During arguments for bail today, defence attorney Dickie Bradley presented Lord with a sixteen point list of reasons why the Browns should be released. These included offers by the defence to accept any stringent measures set by the judge, such as large sureties and the submission of all travel documents. The defendants are not flight risks, said Bradley, because “this case is so weak, there is no case.” Bradley would go on to contend that while it is the paramount duty of the court to comply with the extradition treaty signed between Belize and the United States, “bail will not impinge or frustrate” the requesting state and with the high potential of more “oppressively long delays,” there is “no end in sight” to the case against his clients. Pinch hitting for prosecutor Solicitor General Elson Kaseke today was crown counsel Godwin Arzu. In his fifteen minute submission to the Chief Magistrate, Arzu maintained that the court must fulfil the extradition treaty as a “point of honour”. In response to the delays encountered during the trial thus far, Arzu informed the court that such hold-ups are “part of proceedings”. Following the adjournment of the case this evening, defence attorney Dickie Bradley maintained that even though this is the first time in Belize that a magistrate has been asked to grant bail during extradition proceedings, the defence team is confident that they have successfully argued that their clients deserve that privilege.
Dickie Bradley, Defence Attorney, Brown Brothers
“The two key foundations is that always bear in mind, we are dealing with treaties between Belize and the United States, but the court has the inherent jurisdiction and power to grant bail and all that the Chief Magistrate, as the committal magistrate needs to take into account is whether the particular circumstances of this case, as it is unfolding in front of him, is one in which he should exercise his authority and jurisdiction to grant bail to Andrew and Floyd Brown.”
Janelle Chanona
“In your rebuttal to prosecutor Mr. Godwin Arzu, you spoke of opposition just for the sake of opposition, would you elaborate on that point?”
Dickie Bradley
“As you know, we spent several hours going through what in law is the precedent that the Chief Magistrate must follow, very difficult in terms of the cases that had gone to the Supreme Court. Indeed, you would have heard the Chief Magistrate say that this is a first, crown counsel Godwin Arzu conceded that this is the first time at the committal hearing at the magistrate level that an application for bail has been made. The Chief Magistrate wanted to be addressed on a number of level issues in order to assist him, like any judge in looking at two sides of the arguments. We have given sufficient legal precedents that he can exercise his jurisdiction that the inordinate delays which are now unfolding. Bear in mind, that Floyd Brown has not even started his trial and in the case of Andrew Brown, we are looking at October, November until the prosecution starts to come with all these submissions and delays. So he, I suspect the Chief Magistrate would have felt a bit more comfortable if he had a requisite number of rebuttal based on legal issues as to why he should not make history, and offer bail to two citizens of Belize who are languishing in prison and who I want to emphasize to your viewers, the third defendant Steve Reneau has been offered bail in the United States of America on the twenty-eighth day of July in the sum of seven thousand, five hundred U.S. In our case, the trial hasn’t even started for one defendant and we can’t get no indication from out of the prosecution that, well listen man, we suspect that in a month’s time we will finish at least the committal proceedings. This is very serious that two citizens can sit in jail and their life just put on hold while we are bickering over legal matters.”
As part of their petition for bail, the defence attorneys also presented a medical certificate from the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital confirming the gravely ill status of the defendants’ father. Bradley asked the court to take into account that Andrew and Floyd are Mr. Brown’s only two sons and his time with them may be limited.
