GARDA SUPERINTENDENTS have urged the Government to urgently review the supply of jurors’ names and addresses to defendants in criminal trials, including gangland cases.
The senior officers believe the practice is compromising the entire criminal justice system and is giving rise to fears among the general public that if they sit on juries in gangland trials, either they or their families will be targeted.
President of the Association of Garda Superintendents (AGS), Supt Jim Smith said in a recent “alarming” case a list of names and addresses of juror members was found during a Garda search at the home of an associate of a leading gangland figure.
This case underlined the seriousness of the wider issue of jury intimidation. “We’d like to see a tightening up, an examination of, who has access to jury lists,” he said.
Mr Smith said while the legal teams for the defence and prosecution in all cases were entitled to the names, addresses and occupations of all possible jurors, measures should be put in place to ensure the lists were not passed on to defendants. “We would have to presume they would have the wherewithal to make certain judgments,” he said of legal professionals.
Mr Smith made his comments at the annual delegate conference of the AGS in Westmanstown, Co Dublin.
He also said if the juryless Special Criminal Court was used more often for serious criminals the issue of jury intimidation would be negated.
In his address to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, Mr Smith said his association supported the recent pay deal struck between the Government and public sector unions. However, he called for trade union style status for Garda representative bodies during any future pay talks.
He also urged Mr Ahern to enact legislation allowing gardaí take fingerprints from all arrested persons, rather than only those arrested under specific laws, as is the current practice.
On the issue of jury intimidation, Mr Ahern said he was concerned about the recent case Mr Smith referred to in relation to a jury list being found during the search of a property linked to an associate of a leading gangland figure.
However, he said the names and addresses of jurors were made available to the defendants’ legal representative because they were entitled to be sure that neighbours or friends of people involved in the case did not sit on the jury. “Maybe there doesn’t need to be as much information available about jurors as perhaps there is at the moment,” he said.
He had already asked his officials to examine the current procedures with a view to ensuring serious criminals did not gain access to information they could use to intimidate jurors in their own trials.
He was also in favour of the use of the Special Criminal Court for serious criminals. Last July legislation had been enacted allowing for the use of the juryless courts in gangland trials but it was the DPP who had the ultimate power to direct a case to a jury or non-jury court.
Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy said the Garda was investigating the recent case in which a jury list had been found. Any other similar cases would also be investigated, he said.