lawyers, human rights, national security, and justice
Monday, Aug. 8, 2022
As a people faced with a major national crime problem, a number of citizens are battling with the dilemma of how to uphold two foundational principles that have been a priority for us – human rights and justice. And in our desperate search for answers, some are often tempted to sacrifice the human rights of individuals in search of justice.
A big problem in Belize for the past three decades is that, where the crime of murder is concerned, there are hundreds of families still grieving for lost loved ones with little solace from a justice system that seems to have fallen flat, with a conviction rate of less than ten percent. In a fit of anger, some are inclined to call for capital punishment, “vigilante justice”, and even more drastic approaches to try and remove the apparent sense of impunity with which murders are committed. On the other hand, every accused person also has relatives and friends, and is supposed to be considered innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. But with the current track record of our courts, it is a given that many “guilty” individuals are walking free in our streets, to possibly kill again. Some innocent individuals have at times been “fingered” by their devious rivals to lead police investigators off the track in their pursuit of the culprit who committed a particular crime. So the crime situation is very complicated, and when sobriety sets in, we all must acknowledge that however we go about solving this problem, the human rights of every individual should be respected as our Constitution dictates. But there is still this dilemma, and it begs the question if our approach to laws and the legal profession needs a second look in certain situations, as in the recent incident in Hopkins.
When a prominent attorney was shot just over a decade ago, the young accused was not able to find a lawyer to defend him; perhaps he couldn’t afford one. In fact, he was found guilty of attempted murder following a trial in which he was undefended, and only in his appeal, where the verdict was confirmed, did the court insist that legal representation be secured pro-bono for his defense. That was a case of one individual who almost lost his life. The accused was a minor at the time of the incident, and, while denying he actually pulled the trigger, he maintained that his older accomplice had threatened his life. Perhaps, if an attorney was at the youth’s side from the moment he was declared a suspect, it might have been more difficult during the trial for the prosecution to erase “reasonable doubt” from the mind of the presiding judge.
The first thought of every individual, each one of us, if ever circumstances place us in a heap of trouble, however innocent we may be, will be to try and get a lawyer to defend us, to be sure the system does not take advantage of our ignorance, and make us out to be guilty. The lawyer is then looked upon as our potential savior; and so it should be, according to their profession. It is their job to defend, while other lawyers prosecute; and the lofty principle is that out of that balanced scale should come justice, and the innocent will “walk”, while the “guilty” will pay the penalty for their crime. That is the way it should be.
Unfortunately, in Belize today, many citizens do not have faith in our justice system, especially when it comes to murder. The track record is too poor. And blaming the police will get us nowhere. They are human, just like all the rest of citizens. A major problem, as the Police Commissioner has said a number of times, is that citizen witnesses are needed to give evidence to make prosecution successful, so that murderers are found guilty of their crimes. The debate about the pros and cons of capital punishment is mute, if convictions are so hard to come by. So, the ball is in the citizens’ court. But they will be quick to note how many “witnesses” over the years have also been murdered, so people tend to turn away when a major crime is being committed. Seeing is dangerous; and so, murderers appear to carry out their evil deeds with impunity. Murderers rule the land, it seems sometimes.
Part of the problem there, as the Commissioner himself has admitted, is that widespread corruption in the country has also infiltrated the ranks of the Police Department, no doubt partly due to the drug trafficking situation. In the mid-1980s when the crack cocaine epidemic was being unleashed in Belize City, it was often observed how much havoc could be created in a neighborhood by only one “crack head”, who would steal anything, even clothes on the line, in order to feed his addiction. As demanding as the job is for an officer of the law, and with such meticulous effort being required during evidence gathering and recording, it should be no surprise to anyone that one “bad cop” can mess up a case, intentionally, and even put people’s lives in danger, by leaking witnesses’ identity to an accused person. Indeed, only one “bad cop” could spoil the effectiveness of the whole department, especially in these dangerous times, as people lose confidence in all the good police officers, due to one or two crooks in police uniform.
But that is a topic for another time. Right now, we want to consider Hopkins, and Belize. Because this could be a turning point, for better or for worse. There are some worrisome parallels with the Belmopan case a few years ago, where a foreign “businessman” had a group of young Belizeans committing the most heinous crime to date in Belize—the gruesome murder of one man, for which they are all currently spending life sentences. Now these three Belizeans in Hopkins are in the company of another foreigner, and something just doesn’t seem right. These brothers did not just conspire to seek revenge upon one or two individuals for whatever “beef” they had between them. This was in a way an attack against all of us, Belizeans of all walks of life, together having fun, and the casualties could have been much worse. But the question is, to what end? The Prime Minister has said it is simply “un-Belizean” to do something like that. We get angry, drunk maybe, we lash out, we take revenge sometimes; but looking to unload your weapons on a mass of your fellow Belizeans trapped in a closed building? We’re talking mass murder and terrorism, with implications for our whole national tourism industry.
This cannot be “just like that.” If there is any bad cop around to find a way to botch this investigation, it will be a very sad day indeed. Because, as night follows day, if justice is not served effectively in this case, and a strong message sent to any would-be maniac considering his day of fame, it will happen again, and the weapons may then be of a heavier caliber.
Members of the legal profession are called upon to provide representation to anyone who finds himself in trouble because of bad judgement or letting his emotions overcome him. But this is different. This was in a sense a calculated, armed attack against the people and nation of Belize. And we still don’t know who or what is really behind it all. Criminal lawyers are supposed to be champions of human rights, and feel duty-bound to defend the indefensible in search of justice. But when our national security is at stake, and an emboldened criminal element could take us to another level, they may need to take a serious, second look at their legal obligations. They did, when one of their own was the victim. When our nation is under attack, we should be Belizeans first, and defending the nation should be priority number one. It is often difficult for poor people to defend their rights due to the high cost of legal representation. However, the Hopkins invasion crew, which included three Belizeans, seems to have had no problem securing the services of a Belizean attorney.
Between our national security and the legal profession, where is human rights on the scales of justice?