Jury duty left to the poor
Sykes accuses middle class, residents of gated communities of finding reasons to avoid civic responsibility
Published:Monday | September 8, 2025 | 12:09 AM
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has warned that avoidance of jury duty by the middle classes and those living in gated communities has placed a disproportionate burden onto the working poor.
He was speaking on Sunday during a service to mark the start of the legal year at Meadowbrook United Church in St Andrew
Linking his message to the setting of Sunday’s service, with Meadowbrook United Church located in a middle-income community, Sykes used the opportunity to challenge members of the congregation to answer the call of civic duty.
Noting that churches like Meadowbrook’s “tend to have middle-class and upper-middle-class persons”, Sykes argued that, too often, people in professional and business circles find reasons to avoid serving as jurors.
“As soon as they get the jury notice, they are either suffering from any ailment short of cancer, or the business or enterprise that they are in realises that this person is so indispensable. If they come to jury service, the business will literally have to close,” said Sykes, who has advocated for the abolition of jury trials, to the upset of some lawyers.
“So what that means is that, as time goes on, the jury service is falling disproportionately on those who can least afford it. So the bartenders, the barmaids, the fishermen, the cleaners, the watchmen, the groundsmen – those persons are not in gated communities unless they work there. So those are the persons that the police find it easier to find.”
Sykes added: “I’m urging members of this church that whenever you get the jury notice, you should treat it with a smile and say, ‘I will be the first at the doorsteps of the court on the day that I am to turn up’.”
Principled leadership
That call found resonance in the sermon delivered by Reverend Norbert Stephens, general secretary of the United Church in Jamaica and The Cayman Islands.
Stephens urged Jamaicans to practise leadership that is principled rather than populist, warning against the dangers of deception, self-preservation, and silence in the face of wrongdoing.
“Leadership should inspire, not deceive,” he told the gathering, before challenging them. “What are we prepared to be slapped for?”
He said one clear way to demonstrate courage and responsibility is to heed the chief justice’s reminder to serve as jurors.
“Are we prepared to be slapped for the love of God; for the love of others; for the love of country; for the love of what is right and just, and reasonable and fair and equitable?” he said of a figurative act that triggers a reaction. “Nothing will change unless those among us who are diligent and obedient and faithful to our calling to be disciples of God become the salt and the light, become agents of transformation despite the cost, despite the uncertainty of our ability to survive the effort but always, always rooted in our calling to follow the lead of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ.”
In the meantime, during his presentation, the chief justice also noted that advances in courtroom technology mean the kind of procedural breakdowns that undermined the Vybz Kartel murder case are unlikely to recur.
Sykes said the judiciary has invested significantly in tools and processes that strengthen fairness, transparency, and accountability in the trial system.
Sykes’ remarks were made against the well-documented backdrop of the case involving dancehall entertainer Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer and three co-accused. The men were arrested in 2011 and convicted at trial in 2014 for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. The Jamaican Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal in 2020.
In March 2024, the Privy Council, Jamaica’s final appellate court, overturned those convictions on grounds that included juror misconduct and errors at trial. It sent the matter back to the Court of Appeal to decide whether a retrial should proceed.
In July 2024, the Court of Appeal ruled against ordering a retrial, flagging several issues, including the lengthy appeals process, which spanned roughly a decade and left the men in custody for nearly 13 years. The court said this gave rise to “inordinate” delays that prejudiced their right to a fair hearing within a reasonable time.
Sykes told the Meadowbrook United congregation that on Saturday night, he reread one of the decisions in the Kartel case, which noted that the transcripts from the Supreme Court trial arrived in the Court of Appeal two years after the end of the trial.
“There is no technological reason why that should be so,” he said, pointing to improvements in the system. “We have all the technology now to make that (provision of transcripts) a matter of days now, not weeks or months or years, a matter of days. And so that is why we invest in digital technology.”
Sykes said the integration of more technology in court processes is “not about putting persons out of work”, but “having them work more efficiently”. On that note, he pointed to the recent corruption case involving the Manchester Municipal Corporation, which was presided over by Justice Ann-Marie Grainger. He said that the matter took three years, from trial to a decision from the Court of Appeal.
Jamaican Bar Association President Tenneshia Watkins also used the occasion to reflect on the responsibilities carried by judges, lawyers, clerks, and other court staff.
“We pray that as we continue to carry out our duties in the system, that we do so motivated by fairness and justice, rather than by doing what we do and winning at all costs,” she said.
The annual Assize church service, held under the theme ‘Rooted in Faith, Justice-Driven, Impacting the Future’, marks the start of the Michaelmas term, the first term of the legal year of the Home Circuit Court. The term gets under way on September 19.