Exclusive Interview by Bennette Roach
His lordship Justice Iain Morley
On Friday, December 9, 2016 one day after His lordship Justice Iain Morley completed presiding over in his first session on the bench in Montserrat, the third trial in the Queen vs Orin Evans on a charge of murder, sat with Bennette Roach in an exclusive interview regarding his tour of duty with the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (ECSC). The interview was seeking his reaction to the welcome he received in Montserrat, and generally how he plans to address his work; his vision for the court in Montserrat; in light of the new vision that the Hon Chief Justice has been encouraging – equal justice and fairness.
That third Evans trial lasted just under three weeks, and it was there already along with other cases we observed Judge Morley’s methodology, his deep preciseness and much of what is touted of him in a profile that precedes him.
In an introduction of the new judge who began reading law in 1984 at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Called by the Inner Temple to the Bar of England and Wales in 1988 and was appointed QC 21 years later in 2009. From the books he has written and what has been said of his work it would not surprise that he was World Universities Debating Champion, Sydney.
It is of Judge Iain Morley whose profile would read.
“Iain Morley has practiced in all aspects of domestic criminal law, prosecuting and defending, and since 2004 has become a well-known figure on the international circuit, practicing in genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and international terrorism. He has worked and taught in 26 jurisdictions, and assisted practitioners directly in a further 19, on advocacy skills, criminal law procedures, financial crime, and on international criminal law.
“As an expert in ICL, where evidence is usually voluminous and at the highest levels of complexity, requiring intelligent presentation and editing, he is familiar with the cases and procedures, and the Judges and practitioners, in all six of the international criminal tribunals – the ICTR, ICTY, STL, SCSL, ECCC, and the ICC.”
Most of the law fellowship in Montserrat readily agrees when it is further written: “Morley’s domestic practice encompasses murder, rape, drugs, and financial crime. Morley is a seasoned advocate, whose practice emphasizes complex casework. He is known to present multiplicities of facts clearly and subtle arguments persuasively.”
He was asked to tell of himself and having introduced him as above, he was brief. He informed that he was born and brought up in Ireland and, “I came to England in 1983,” he said. He is married and has three children.
“I became a barrister after University in 1988 and began totravel the world from 1990.” He said he has been practicing in largely criminal law since then for about twenty-seven years.
“I became Queen’s Counsel in 2009 and my practice has involved me doing all sorts of criminal matters from speeding offenses all the way through to murder, domestically in all the courts, that’s the Magistrates Court, the Crown courts and of course the Court of Appeal and I’ve also practiced internally where I have both prosecuted and defended.”
He said he spent time assisting in the defense of Slobodan Milosevic who was the president of Yugoslavia. He was a prosecutor of the Rwanda genocide for four years; “I was in Arusha in Tanzania where I prosecuted four cases of genocide against senior figures in Rwandan society including ministers and members of the family associated with the late president.”
He spoke of his involvement in other matters such as being the architect of the indictment trial alleging assassination by his beloved of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
He explained, “More recently domestically my practice has been largely murder. I have mostly defended; I do prosecute domestically and I have also been involved in fraud cases and sexual offenses and drug importation and some other serious criminal matters.
He then speaks of his appointment, “I find myself here the newly appointed High Court Judge serving in the Caribbean where I have been appointed to the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court to look after Antigua and Barbuda, and Montserrat and perhaps rather a few of the other seven island nations within the OECS.”
The Judge had thanked me at the outset for the interview as he said, “for the opportunity to speak to you and through you to the people of Montserrat who may want to know a little bit more about their new High Court Judge.”
He remarked that he had stepped “into very big shoes which have been left for me by Justice Albert Redhead,” whom he had known for some time with in London. “…also I’ve seen over in Antigua and I replace him both here and in Antigua. I now occupy his floor in court room number two,” noting that Justice Redhead has retired and has been a figure for many years in courts in this part of the world.
As to how his experience on both sides of table as prosecutor and defender, he thinks it’s very important to be able to do both sides: “because that way you can see the strengths and weaknesses in whatever argument you’ll advance at. The reason you can do that is because if you represent the other side of the time you can see the weaknesses in your prosecution case and similarly if you have prosecuted you can see the weaknesses in your defense presentation,” concluding, “So by doing both it’s essential I think – to allow you to be able to be even handed and clear minded.”
Judge Morley credits Sir Dennis Byron for ending up at the East Caribbean Supreme Court, an appointment he accepted because of his desire to be useful. He spoke of the connectivity between the Caribbean and UK court system.
He said he was prosecuting the Rwanda genocide, “coincidentally in front of Sir Dennis Byron who is currently the president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and as you know was the Chief Justice for the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. I got to know Sir Dennis very well and he’s always had an eye on me and it came a time when he looked at me and I looked at him and he said it’s time and I’m now here.”
What is he bringing with him to the OECS courts? “I’ve always been aware that U.K. barristers can be quite helpful and I like to be useful so I’ve come here to be as useful as I can be, and bring with me the truths of what I’ve learned from my international experience as well as my really dogged domestic experience where I’ve been through it all in the criminal courts,” he said modestly.
He continues: “So I’m here to help the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in bringing with me I hope some of the practices which have been well established over in the U.K. So that there can be some changes and developments and further connectivity between here and the U.K. as part of the fact that we are in a Commonwealth circumstance. I’m bringing with me what I know.”
During his few weeks in Montserrat the judge has already begun to share his knowledge and experience.
He informed that he hosted a seminar for the local bar with all the lawyers here. “I discussed with the local bar what is a good outlook and what’s an effect of that good what makes for good questioning technique and what makes a bad question technique and how to approach putting together a case theory so that it is plausible and fairly put.”
That took place on November 24 and lasted for about an hour and a half. Feedback on that has been high and mostly likely encouraged the judge to make “arrangements to lift some money out the pocket of the foreign Commonwealth office.” He said, “I’m bringing over two advocacy trainers from London next March (I hope) for four days of advocacy training to the whole bar, so that we will bring things forward.”
Judge Morley had cautioned he will not discuss the just concluded case and I refrained from seeking him do so. It was not difficult for him however to address a burning issue that I raised with regards to “doing away with the jury system.” He said that he has strong views on the jury system to remain. He said that the responsibility of directing them to do their duty well lies with the judge and the attorneys in the case. He is of the view that a juror will do his job well as long as he judges as he himself would want to be judged.
This what the judge said in response to my dubious thought of him having “an opinion on that or express any thoughts about the matter! “
“I do have a very strong opinion on the importance of juries,” he began. “I think that justice taking criminal matters lies in the hands of the jury and not in the hands of a Judge. I think it’s very important that people come from the community assemble under the direction of the judge and are directed as to the law.”
Then he proposes a powerful option as to how jurors should go about their duty using common sense and a standard rooted in Christian biblical principles. “But then they apply their common sense anonymously to a circumstance which is presentable for prosecution and argued by defense, so that those who judge apply a standard by which they would want to be judged themselves.”
Judge Morley then explains, “the difficulty with professional judges and it has happened in other jurisdictions where you have professional judges,” he said. “Yes, they can get a bit comfortable in being the person who does the judging and sometimes they might lose sight of the fact they may one day themselves be judged.”
He continued: “So the idea of a jury applying a standard where they judge as they would want to be judged is something that juries do and do naturally; and there is a danger to have a professional judge to lose that.”
Judge Morley goes on to say he would argue that the jury system is better than the judge system. “So I would always want a jury, it doesn’t seem a perfect system, but it is arguably, and I would make the argument, better than the judge system,” he said.
We will later, bring more on this and more from Judge Iain Morley, especially with regards to some rumours emanating out of the just concluded trial and with respect to the jury and how they should be inducted into the jury system and trials.
Listen to the full interview here: https://soundcloud.com/user-851448539/bennette-roach-exclusive-interview-with-judge-iain-morley-161222
(See the judge in action in the Evans’ trial – An extract presentation of Judge Morley’s…)
