About two weeks after defense lawyer Michael Wyllie was removed from the records, in a sharp turn of events in the case involving 27-year-old Sheba Charles of Ashton, Union Island, who was being tried for murder, the defendant pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Wyllie was appointed initially by the Court to represent Charles.
When the matter resumed at the Criminal Assizes, High Court No 2, before Justice Rickie Burnett on Friday, May 12, attorney Jomo Thomas, who is now representing Charles, told the Court that he had three or four conversations with Charles and having reviewed the documents in relation to the matter, in addition to the views expressed by Charles, as well as his views, the defense concluded that the charge should be put to Charles again.
This was done and Charles pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter. The Crown accepted the plea.
The matter was then adjourned to Monday, May 15, for Justice Burnett to instruct the 12-member jury who was hearing the matter to return a formal verdict of not guilty to murder, but guilty to manslaughter.
After the formal verdict was delivered on Monday, Thomas asked the Court for time to prepare submissions and mitigation.
After consulting with the defense and the Crown, Justice Burnett adjourned sentencing to July 17, pending a Social Inquiry report on Charles to be filed on or before June 15.
The defense is to file sentencing submissions by June 29, while the Crown is to file theirs by July 6.
The matter – The Twist
Charles will be sentenced for unlawfully causing the death of Ulric Hutchinson, 83, also domiciled in Ashton, stemming from an incident at Hutchinson’s home on November 26, 2020. An autopsy showed that Hutchinson was strangled.
When the murder trial continued at the Criminal Assizes on April 29, the case took an interesting twist when Rose Ann Richardson, appearing for the Crown, revealed that the Crown had indicated to the defense that a plea to manslaughter was open. Wyllie was supposed to have relayed this to this client, but apparently he did not, as Charles indicated to the Court that she did not know anything about it when the Crown raised the issue in the absence of the Jury.
Both parties were summoned to the Judge’s Chambers, and Wyllie was then allowed to conference privately with Charles.
But while this was being done, Charles was heard to be banging on a table, and she subsequently indicated to the Court that she wanted a new lawyer.
Because of the breakdown in the relationship between Wyllie and his client, the Court removed Wyllie from the records and appointed Thomas to represent Charles.
The matter was then adjourned to May 12 after Thomas requested time to consult with the accused.
But Wyllie said on Wednesday that he had told the accused that the crown had offered the defense a plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
“I told her that, but I told her not to plead guilty to manslaughter but she insisted that she wanted to plead guilty to manslaughter,” Wyllie said, adding that he told her that if she was going to plead guilty to manslaughter, he was not going to continue to represent her at the trial.
Wyllie said that it was a clear case of self-defense, and he was convinced that the jury would have found Charles not guilty of murder had the trial been completed.
He said he believed that after four days of trial, the Crown figured out that Charles was going to be found not guilty of murder, and therefore offered the manslaughter plea, so as to secure a conviction.
Source :The Vincentian