The Privy Council ruling in the murder case against entertainer Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer and his co-accused Shawn “Shawn Storm” Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John has reopened the long-running debate about bench vs jury trials here.

Essentially, the quashing of the convictions of four men for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams turned on the fact that the local trial judge did not immediately dismiss a juror who had sought to bribe fellow jurors.

The Privy Council told us that, while it “has considerable sympathy with the judge’s dilemma”, given that it was on the last day of the trial that he learnt of the juror’s criminal action, it considers that the course followed by the judge was a material irregularity in the course of the trial, giving rise to a miscarriage of justice within section 14(1) of the Judicature (Appellate Jurisdiction) Act.

The judge, therefore, “was placed in an unenviable position”.

The British law lords pointed out that, under the United Kingdom Jury Act, judges can dismiss a corrupted jury and try a case alone. At the moment, there is no such provision in Jamaica. However, the Privy Council ruling gives us reason to examine that provision in the planned revision of the Jury Act here.

Indeed, such a suggestion was advanced by attorney Mr Alexander Shaw last week in the aftermath of the Privy Council ruling. Mr Shaw told this newspaper that he was in agreement with the crux of the Privy Council’s judgment, which essentially invites us to consider having a judge alone continue a trial without a jury in the instance where there is juror misconduct.

According to Mr Shaw, rather than throwing jury trials out altogether, as has been suggested by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, legislators should consider amending the legislation along these lines.

Fellow attorney-at-law Mr Lloyd McFarlane also said he had no problem with an amendment to the law here which allows for a trial to continue with a judge alone once it has been proven that an attempt was made to corrupt a jury.

Justice Minister Delroy Chuck has already indicated that he will be establishing a joint select committee of Parliament to look at the Jury Act “to see how we can widen it, and probably to assess the chief justice’s position that you should have bench trials”.

Certainly, in our view, having legislation that provides for a matter to move to a bench trial in circumstances where it is necessary to discharge a jury because of jury tampering makes eminent sense as it will protect the justice system from attempts to corrupt the proceedings.

The joint select committee, we suggest, should also examine, and hopefully come up with a solution to the age-old problem we have of juror apathy. We know that the reasons for not serving as jurors vary — some people fear that adjudicating criminal matters can place their lives at risk, while others regard serving as a waste of time as there is no great financial benefit.

However, more Jamaicans need to acknowledge and accept the fact that serving as jurors is a civic duty designed to hold the State to the principles of the constitution. It is a fundamental right that we must protect.