DISAPPOINTMENT was written all over the faces of Keith Clarke’s widow and his two daughters on Monday as the trial into his shooting death by agents of the State, which has been 12 years in waiting, failed again to get under way in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

The trial was put off until May 6 to await a decision from the Court of Appeal on whether a stay of the proceedings will be granted. That application, made by the defence, is scheduled to be heard this morning.

Clarke was shot inside his house in May 2010 by members of the Jamaica Defence Force who were searching for then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke, the former Tivoli Gardens strongman who, at the time, was on the run from law enforcers in a bid to avoid being extradited to the United States for trial on gun and drug trafficking charges.

Lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley, as well as Private Arnold Henry, are the three soldiers charged with murder in relation to Clarke’s killing.

On Monday, their attorneys locked horns with prosecutor Latoya Bernard who wanted the trial to proceed as scheduled, while the defence cited a number of reasons the trial could not start on Monday.

“In this matter, My Lord, we are ready to proceed,” Bernard said to trial Judge Dale Palmer.

“On the last occasion the matter was adjourned due to a shortage of jurors. I was informed this morning that we have enough jurors; there is a pool of 38 so far and we can now empanel in this matter,” Bernard argued.

On April 15 Judge Palmer had rejected an application by the defence for a stay, however the application for a stay was sent to a higher court.

Much to the annoyance of Bernard, King’s Counsel (KC) Valerie Neita-Robertson, who is representing Tinglin, rose to address the judge at length.

“My Lord, as you are aware, the defence has asked for a stay and we have filed and served the document on the DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions]. The matter should have been heard this morning but the Court of Appeal has put it off until tomorrow morning [today]. I believe, bearing in mind the rulings and the judgment of the Queen against Barry Randall, that the usual courtesies afforded to counsel at bar ought to be afforded to us. If the stay is granted, Your Lordship would have saved quite a bit of time. If it is not granted, then we proceed,” Neita- Robertson said before touching on other points.

“The second issue I wish to raise with Your Lordship is the issue of notes of evidence of hearing, and in particular witnesses for the prosecution. We would like to have those notes. We would request Your Lordship’s assistance so that if we are going to proceed, at least we would have the material the court is obliged to give us,” the veteran attorney said.

Bernard stuck to her script, appealing to Judge Palmer to proceed with the trial and empanel the jury.

“The stay that is being indicated went before a single judge at the Court of Appeal and was refused. It is now a null application. There is no stay before this court. The matter is to proceed. On the last occasion we were here we indicated certain difficulties in relation to witnesses if the matter doesn’t start today. The matter has been before the court for 12 years and we have been ready,” Bernard said.

Challenging Bernard’s argument Neita-Robertson said, “My Lord, my friend is grossly misled — by whom, I don’t know. The matter went before a single judge and the judge did not hear anything from any attorney. Nobody was representing any of the accused persons in the application and it was the judge’s view that the Full Court should hear it. We are not before any court seeking to do anything we ought not to or seeking to exercise rights that we don’t have. The point is, the matter is for tomorrow morning and all we ask is that the matter be allowed to be heard, which is the normal courtesies afforded to defence when they appeal. I don’t believe we are doing anything abnormal.”

Lance Corporal Buckley is being represented by KC Peter Champagnie, while private Henry is being represented by Linton Gordon.

Appearing for the prosecution along with Bernard is Dwayne Green.