Late witness statement admitted in Klansman gang murder trial

Justice Dale Palmer on Monday ended extended legal exchanges between prosecutors and defence attorneys in the Klansman gang matter, ruling that a statement given by a witness who has since died may be entered into evidence.

The witness, Shaniece Roberts, died in February 2021 because of health-related complications. Before her death, she had given police a statement about the killing of Noah Smith, who was murdered on Friday, February 7, 2020, at Yarico Place in St Andrew.

Michael Wildman, Jerome Spike, Nashuan Guest and Geovaughni McDonald are before the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court on allegations that they knowingly helped to facilitate the murder and robbery connected to Smith’s death.

The prosecution had brought a lengthy application under Section 31(D) of the Evidence Act. Defence lawyers strongly resisted the move. Among the issues the Crown had to prove was that the deceased woman was the same person who made the statement to investigators, and that the statement could properly be received by the court.

In giving his decision, Justice Palmer said the central question was whether the legal requirements in Section 31(D) had been satisfied. He also considered whether, even if those requirements were met, there was enough reason for the court to use its discretion under Section 31(L) of the Evidence Act, or its wider authority, to keep the statement out.

The judge said some of the defence concerns would matter when the court later decides how much value to place on the statement, whether parts should be removed, and what warnings or directions may be necessary. However, he found that those concerns did not destroy the legal foundation for admitting the material.

“I do not believe this is an appropriate matter in which the court’s statutory or other discretion to exclude the statement should be invoked. I, therefore, order that the statement — subject to any necessary editing and subject to the court’s continuing control over the use and weight to be applied to it — be admitted into evidence,” Justice Palmer said.

He also dealt with the defence’s argument about differences in the spelling of Roberts’s name. A detective constable who took the statement used one spelling, while a close associate of the deceased woman gave the court another.

Justice Palmer accepted that the spelling issue had to be weighed, but said it did not, by itself, block the statement from being admitted. He said the real test was whether the evidence, taken as a whole, proved beyond reasonable doubt that the dead woman and the person who gave the statement were the same individual.

The judge ruled that the Crown had proven Shaniece Roberts was dead and had also shown beyond reasonable doubt that Detective Constable [name withheld] took a statement from her. He found that the names Shanice Roberts and Shaniece Roberts referred to the same person.

According to Justice Palmer, questions about spelling and gender affect the weight to be placed on the statement, not whether it can enter the case. He added that the court still has safeguards, including the ability to revisit how the statement is used.

“The defence still has the power to use tools [available to it under the legislation] to discredit this particular statement or witness,” he said.

The statement is expected to be read into the court record on Tuesday morning when the trial continues. Defence attorneys were allowed to propose edits to remove any material considered “inflammatory”.

The 25 accused, described by prosecutors as part of the Tesha Miller-led side of the gang, make up the second Klansman faction to be placed on trial. The Crown says they must answer to 16 alleged offences spanning August 2017 to November 2022.