The Court of Appeal has cleared coroner of Kingston and St. Andrew, Patrick Murphy, of a Supreme Court ruling that the method he employed in the jury selection process between 2004 and 2005 was flawed.

Dionne Holness, the mother of deceased Dwayne Graham, had complained that the same set of jurors was being used repeatedly at coroner's inquests. She claimed that the jurors used in the inquest into Graham's death were used on several panels previously. Holness took the matter to the Supreme Court.

No corruption

Coroner Murphy had admitted that in some cases the same set of jurors was used due to the perennial difficulty in getting persons to serve as jurors. However, he said he was not aware that the lawyer for the deceased's family had alleged that any of the jurors in Graham's inquest had behaved improperly, corruptly or perversely. He said if such an allegation had been raised and he was satisfied it was true, he would have discharged the jury.

Mr. Justice Lennox Campbell held that the defect in the selection process at the time made it desirable in the interest of justice that another inquest should be held.Coroner Murphy and the Attorney-General, who were the defendants, appealed the ruling.

Deputy Solicitor General Patrick Foster, Q.C., and attorney-at-law Tasha Manley represented the appellants, and argued that the judge erred in arriving at a decision that the jury selection process was flawed when there was no evidence to support such a finding.

The Court of Appeal upheld the submissions, allowed the appeal and set aside the order for a new inquest. The judge had ordered legal costs against Coroner Murphy but the court said the judge found no fault with the coroner's handling of the inquest therefore the award of costs against him was unreasonable.