Defendant's late arrival wastes judicial time

Wed, Aug 8th 2012, 09:22 AM

A murder case defendant's late arrival held up proceedings in the Supreme Court for about four hours yesterday.
Floridian Daniel Ayo, who in on $50,000 cash bail, was still a no show when Justice Vera Watkins came on the Bench at 12:30 p.m.
Ayo is accused of the 2010 shooting death of Jamaican Clive Tomlinson at Bimini.
His lawyer, Wayne Munroe, explained that Ayo's Bahamasair flight was delayed.
An obviously annoyed Watkins asked, "Did it ever occur to you to suggest to him that he travels to The Bahamas the day before trial? Why wait on the morning of trial to travel? That is just too risky, no matter which airline you travel."
The judge then asked prosecutor Linda Evans for the status of the back-up trial.
The defendant, Tavare Mejias, who is accused of three counts of attempted murder was present, and so were the prosecution's witnesses. However, Perry Albury, Mejias' court-appointed lawyer, was not there.
Counsel Linda Evans said, "The witnesses are present. The only difficulty is his counsel is not here. Unfortunately he fell ill. Some things we really have no control over."
Mejias' case was adjourned to December 3.
Watkins said, "We have two matters set, but none can proceed. Mr. Munroe, I am minded to issue a warrant of arrest. I've had the jurors waiting since 10 a.m. It's almost lunchtime and [we're] still not in a position to start with either matter."
Watkins did not issue the warrant and adjourned court to 2pm.
Jury selection began about 10 minutes later. Watkins dismissed the jurors after impanelling them.
Evans is expected to begin her opening arguments today.

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