JonesSeveral appeal cases are still outstanding because the notes of evidence are not yet ready to be presented to the hearing.
The case of prominent attorney Sonia Jones, who was convicted 15 months ago of fraudulent conversion of US$83,749, did not reach the Court of Appeal Registry until February 23 this year.
Miss Jones's lawyers had given verbal notice of appeal on the day she was convicted, December 6, 1999.
Typing notes of evidence for Norma Von Cork, the only Resident Magistrate to be convicted of a criminal offence in Jamaica, has not yet been completed.
She was convicted along with four others on April 28, last year of attempting to pervert the course of public justice.
Howard Watson was convicted on April 8, 1995 of possession of ganja. He gave verbal notice of appeal on the day of his conviction. The notes of evidence were sent to the Court of Appeal Registry on February 17, 1998 and the appeal was heard on May 21, 1998. The conviction and sentence were affirmed.
Sonia Griffith was convicted on April 3, 1991 of unlawful wounding. She gave verbal notice of appeal on that day. The notes of evidence were sent to the Court of Appeal Registry on July 19, 1994 and her appeal was disposed of on November 11, 1994.
With regard to the notes of evidence in Mrs. Von Cork's case, Calvin Campbell, the court administrator, said the staff was completing them, and so far more than 280 pages had been typed.
He said that the same personnel who were preparing the notes of evidence were the ones who had to deal with the day-to-day requests for certificates for outcome of cases and requests from other external agencies.
"Since this year we have had 250 requests from various individuals and agencies in regard to disposal of matters and some of them involved research so as to prepare the certificates in regard to the outcome of cases. With our new customer charter we have set aside a day to respond to those requests, he said.
