What you need to know about Magistrates, Prosecutors and Attorneys

Mar 14, 2021 News

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By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – The Magistracy is like the hub of Guyana’s Judiciary. There are more Magistrates’ Courts than High Courts, and as such, a large number of criminal cases are disposed of at the Magistracy level.
The Magistracy conducts summary criminal matters, civil matters and it also facilitates Preliminary Inquiries (PI) for serious offenses like murder, carnal knowledge, rape, and other serious crimes. All serious criminal matters commence at the Magistracy level, before it is sent to the High Court, if enough evidence is produced.
In addition to criminal matters, Magistrates also hear some civil cases and family disputes.
At the Magistracy, there are Magistrates, Prosecutors and Attorneys-at-law. In this article, we will examine the role they play at the Magistracy level.

MAGISTRATES
Magistrates are Judicial Officers who administrate the law. At the Magistracy level, some Magistrates oversee and supervise the law in summary criminal, some civil, family, and other matters.
Magistrates work in the Magistrate’s Court in the various districts throughout the country.
The Magistrates function by examining facts presented to the court by the prosecution and defence and then applying the relevant laws to reach a final verdict or decision.
At the Magistracy, there is the Chief Magistrate, Principal Magistrates, Senior Magistrates, and Magistrates.
According to the law, the chief magistrate, a principal magistrate, and a senior magistrate have, exercise and perform all the functions conferred on a magistrate under the

SUMMARY JURISDICTION (MAGISTRATES) ACT.
The Chief Magistrate acts under the direction of the Chief Justice, and exercises control and supervision of all other Magistrates. This also includes supervision for all Magistrates in the various magisterial divisions throughout the country and the administrative staff.
Presently sitting as the Chief Magistrate is Ann McLennan. Some Principal Magistrates are: Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus, Judy Latchman and Faith McGusty. Additionally, some Senior Magistrates are: Fabayo Azore, Leron Daly, Dylon Bess, Alex Moore, Clive Nurse and Zameena Ally-Seepaul.
Other Magistrates are: Annette Singh, Rhondell Weever, Alisha George, Rochelle Liverpool, Sunil Scarce, Crystal Lambert, Peter Hugh, Wanda Fortune, and others.
The Chief Magistrate has the power to allocate work amongst the various courts and also transfer cases or pending matters before any court to another court, which has jurisdiction to hear such case. This is done to ensure expeditious disposal of the court’s work or matter, and to relieve congestion of cases being backlogged.
As reported in a previous article of ‘The Court Journal,’ “Disposal of matters… Trial, Preliminary Inquiry and Paper Committal,” those are the three ways Magistrates dispose of their matters.
In that article, it was noted that “In the Magistrate’s Court, there are three different methods in which matters are tried. For the not so serious offences, a trial is conducted, while for the serious offences the Magistrate can either conduct a preliminary inquiry (PI) or a paper committal.”
For the serious offences, the defendant is not allowed to plead either guilty or not guilty, since the matter was laid indictably. For those offences, the Magistrate does not impose a sentence but rules whether or not sufficient evidence was presented to the court for the matter to either be discharged or for the defendant to be committed to stand trial in the High Court of the respective district.
However, while a PI can last for more than five years, most Magistrates prefer this method, and the paper committal, which was introduced in 2008, can last up to 45 days.

PROSECUTORS
A prosecutor is a legal officer who represents the state in criminal matters. In the Magistrates Court, they are police prosecutors and special prosecutors. Every courtroom at the Magistrates Court is assigned two or three police prosecutors, in some instances more.
Police prosecutors are police ranks who were assigned to work with the court superintendent’s office. The police officers, who prosecute undertake a limited training in the area of prosecution.
Despite their limited training in the law field, some police prosecutors have proven to handle the job fairly well going up against attorneys-at-law who studied law for several years before being accepted to the bar to practice.
However, it has also been observed that due to the police prosecutor’s lack of training in the legal field that many criminal matters that pass through the Magistrates Court, end in favour of the defence counsel who has superior knowledge and training in the law field.
Most of the criminal cases in the Magistrates Court are handled by police prosecutors.
In order to strengthen Guyana’s Criminal Justice System, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, S.C., announced last September, the recruitment and training of persons who have a law degree, but have not completed law school.
Minister Nandlall had stated that they are a number of persons who completed the local Bachelors of Laws Degree Programme, but have not yet proceeded to study at a law school in the region. He added that if those persons are interested, they would have to undergo a one-year accredited prosecutorial training course, after which they will be hired as prosecutors and will join the police prosecutors in the Magistrates’ Court, across the length and breadth of Guyana.
According to information from the Office of the Department of Public Prosecution website, to improve the quality of prosecutions, it was decided that police prosecutors be assigned to the chambers of the DPP full-time.
There are presently three police prosecutors who are assigned to the chambers. By being at the chambers, it is expected that they would have immediate access to the state lawyers at the chambers to get advice on the prosecution of cases as well as to have access to the chamber’s library for research purposes.
Additionally, they are special prosecutors, those prosecutors are attorneys-at-law who are often hired by the Attorneys General Office and tasked with prosecuting certain cases.
In addition, agencies like the Special Organized Crime Unit (S.O.CU) and Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (C.A.N.U) have their own prosecutors. Relatives of a murder victim or the virtual complainant in any matter can also request to hire an attorney-at-law to prosecute the case instead of using the police prosecutors.
It should be noted that the prosecutors at the Magistrate’s Court level are not legal officers.

ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW
Attorneys-at-law are a practitioner in a court of law who is legally qualified to prosecute and defend actions in such court on the retainer of clients. Attorneys are also called lawyers, counsel, among other names.
They give advice to individuals, businesses, and also government agencies on legal issues and disputes in both criminal and civil cases. The lawyers also represent them in court and for legal transactions.
From just giving legal advice, it can move to preparing a document or eventually, appearing in court to advocate on behalf of clients.
A lawyer conducts research on legal issues and is qualified to interpret laws, regulations, and rulings. They can also draw up legal documents like deeds, wills, lawsuits, contracts, and appeals.
Additionally, they can also oversee legal assistants or paralegals. A lawyer may specialize in many different areas of this profession.
Sometimes you might hear someone suggesting a specific lawyer for your case because that lawyer is experienced and more au fait with that area of the law field.
Some lawyers may specialize in the criminal law, prosecution, defence, tax, intellectual property, or family law, or environmental law, among others.
Moreover, they are prosecutors and attorneys that work with the government at the DPP chambers. Based on advice from the DPP’s office, charges are filed against an individual for violating the law.
They are also public defenders who represent individuals who cannot afford to pay for an attorney. Someone who wishes to seek legal advice or representation but cannot afford to pay for one can contact the Guyana Legal Aid Clinic (GLAC), which provides free or subsidized legal representation.
Lawyers who work in law firms often start as associates and may advance to the partnership or part owner in their firm.
Like other members of the court mentioned in this article, attorneys may also face pressure during trials trying to meet deadlines for submission and to keep track of all matters they are involved in.
It should be noted that before you become an attorney-at-law there are years of dedicated studies that must be completed and a certain academic requirement. It usually takes three years of law school after college to become a lawyer. All states require lawyers to pass licensing tests called “bar exams” to practice law.
Anyone with prior felony convictions may be disqualified from practicing law.
However, Guyana does not have a Law School so persons who desire to study law after completing the Bachelors of Laws Degree at the University of Guyana (UG); they then proceed to study at the Hugh Wooding Law School or another law school.

 

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