welcome back we're continuing the news earlier today a bail application was refused in the
court of appeal a routine matter or was it documents obtained by TVJ news
show the matter involves a cancer patient years behind bars and highlights systemic weaknesses
in the justice system Giovanni Dennis has this special report on the case of Raymond Morgan
several months ago a disturbing story from a caller to our news center a story about
a man behind bars since his conviction in 2011 trying for 10 years to get help filing an appeal
the man was Raymond Morgan and up to Wednesday he has been imprisoned for 4298 days
here's a timeline he was arrested July 22 2009 on fraud charges on February 7 2011
a year and a half later he was tried and convicted in the halfway three resident
magistrates court as it was known at the time Mr. Morgan represented himself after his attorney quit
because he was unable to pay him he says the trial judge mrs sonia bertram linton refused his request
for additional time to get another attorney he also says he was refused legal aid he was
sentenced to 12 years in prison on four counts of fraud he received the maximum three years on each
count and the sentences were to run consecutively unusual in Jamaica's sentencing regime
days after conviction on February 12, 2011 he tried to appeal his sentence arguing
it cannot be justified was harsh and excessive but there was a problem being without a lawyer
Raymond Morgan completed his appeal papers himself i have a copy of it right here in my
hand department of corrections staff here at the tower street adult correctional center was tasked
simply with delivering the appeal papers to the courts however on march 7 2011 the appeal papers
was incorrectly filed in the court of appeal instead of the paris court in february 2012
this letter to then cena magistrate judith pusey from the court of appeal apologizing for the delay
and acknowledging the error the appeal court says it received no response from the parish court in
fact mr morgan didn't learn of the error until july 2017 when he wrote to the then chief justice
six years later letters between mr morgan and the office of the chief justice confirmed this
with his appeal filed in the wrong court he has been languishing in prison for nearly 12 years
mr morgan sought help from indicom the legal aid council and jamaicans for justice all
without success he has also spoken and written to senior officials in the department of corrections
including the deputy commissioner expressing his frustration and asking for assistance
still little to no help add to that frustration the pain of a cancer diagnosis in 2017.
we brought the case to the attention of attorney at lord john clark
no mr morgan is represented by mr clark and former commissioner of indicom terrence williams
as part of a larger project but the appeal court denied the bail application today
for two reasons first that the bill act does not provide for bail pending appeal
for persons who had not been on bail during their trial and secondly that um given the fact that
his grounds of appeal were delayed his appeal is deemed abandoned deemed abundant
because the department of corrections delivered the appeal in the wrong court mr williams and
mr clark are seeking to revive it and both attorneys are hopeful the judge recognized that
the justice system had failed in in some respects regarding the long time that mr morgan has been
in custody awaiting hearing of his appeal so what happens now well mr williams is looking to revive
and add mr morgan's appeal to three other similar appeals for a hearing may 11. in the meantime
no bail no freedom until his appeal is heard 221 appeals were filed in the court of appeal in 2020
276 in 2019. now in 2021 after serving more than his full 12-year sentence raymond morgan's case
will soon finally be numbered among new appeals before the court whatever the outcome of this case
questions remain where does someone with no support turn for help to navigate our justice
system and what happens to those who don't get that support giovanni dennis tvj news