MONTEGO BAY, St James— High Court judge Marjorie Cole Smith yesterday promised that the court would be prepared to have mercy on those who asked for it.

“I’m putting it out there, those who seek mercy will get mercy,” she said at yesterday opening of the Easter session of the St James circuit court.

The judge’s words are significant against the background of what Attorney Clive Mullings described as a ‘taxing’ list of cases scheduled to be tried during the five-week session.

If the individuals who are up for trial should decide to trade in their status of innocence via admissions of guilt, the list which has 13 murder cases would almost certainly experience some of the denting that court officials are looking forward to.

However a poor showing on the part of the jurors who were served with notice to attend court could prove a challenge to their ambitions. As much was said by Acting Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dirk Harrison. “For many years we have been unable to start and complete matters because of the inadequate number of jurors,” he said.