By Jp Schmon
The first Ashelle Morgan, Karim Nelson and Cornelius John trial began on Wednesday 10 November 2021.
The much-anticipated judicial showdown commenced with local Director of Public Prosecution Sejilla McDowall introducing St. Lucia’s Deputy Director of Public Prosecution S. Stephen Brette, the special prosecutor “who has carriage of the matter” to presiding magistrate Bertie Pompey.
The case revolves around two members of the Vincentian legal fraternity who were allegedly involved in a gun shooting incident in which small business operator Cornelius John was injured.
Morgan was, in 2020, named a senator in the Dr. Ralph Gonsalves’ 5th Cabinet and has since acted as the Deputy Speaker of the Vincentian House of Assembly. Currently observing a suspension from those duties, she remains the founder and managing director of Morgan Law Inc.
Nelson has worked with the local prosecution services for much of his legal career. At the time of the incident – April 13, 2021 – he was one of two Assistant Directors of Public Prosecutors.
Nelson and Morgan are being tried together on charges of unlawfully discharging a firearm and wounding, in Nelson’s case, and using threatening language where Senator Morgan is concerned.
The prosecution has so far called a total of 10 witnesses; they include top COP Colin John, a crime scene investigator, ballistics expert Station Sergeant Julian Cain, Auxiliary Police Constable Rochelle Franklyn, the virtual complainant Cornelius John and his wife Nicole John.
Asked to provide an update of the proceedings thus far, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, who has plays a Court approved observatory role in this trial, told us:
“The defense has a job to do; I can’t blame the defense for doing their job but I’m not satisfied that the case was properly prepared from the prosecutorial point of view. There are still some things looming large, I will not speak about them yet because the trial is ongoing so I will wait. I will speak about that later.”
The defense’s approach has been to discredit as much of the evidence as they could that is being presented by Deputy DPP Brette’s.
Ronald Marks, the defense litigator for Nelson, told us: “We were trying to lead evidence as to [Mr. John’s] character and the prosecutor tried everything in his powers to prevent us from doing so but we got the evidence in as we wanted.
“I believe the Court could now see a true reflection of the person Mr. Cornelius John is, so that was basically it in a nut shell. … It was in relation to previous incidents of violence, specifically violence against women, and a previous conviction that he had for abuse of his then wife – his first wife.”
Given the barrage of innuendos and outright allegations of lies being told throughout the course of this saga – in and out of Court, we asked John’s attorney, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, whether or not she was concerned about the attack on the credibility of the witnesses so far.
Bacchus-Baptiste, ever steadfast in her view, responded: “again, that is the defense grandstanding. I thought that Mrs. John was a very truthful witness. She said things that did not help her husband but they were the truth and she spoke about them.
“She said things that would not help Ashelle but it is the truth and she spoke about it. And I think that I have to agree with her when she said the truth is the truth.”
Several things are clear to date: Senator Morgan is not a licensed firearm holder here nor was she charged for illegal gun possession; local police procedure, including the urgency with which they respond to complaints and chain of custody issues continue to plague the local justice system. The latter has so far been the cause for Magistrate Pompey disallowing one of the prosecution’s exhibits. Additionally, Karim Nelson is yet to be, undoubtedly, tied to the incident based on the evidence that is before Magistrate Pompey up to this point.
It is unclear whether the defense intends to call their clients to offer evidence in open court especially since both clients declined to offer a statement when invited to do so by police investigators.
One observer noted the very real possibility of a no case to answer submission being tabled by Nelson’s lawyer, whenever the prosecution rests its case.
Duane Daniel, Senator Morgan’s attorney in these proceedings, offered “no comment” when asked whether or not he intends to call his client to the witness stand.
When the Mesopotamia Magistrate’s Court – which is currently sitting in Calliaqua exclusively for this trial – reconvenes for the 6th day of what ought to have been a 3 day trial, the entire Court is expected to visit the scene of the incident as per an application made by Deputy DPP Brette.
