A United States judge ruled today that the Feb. 8 guilty verdicts against former premier Andrew Fahie will stand despite concerns reportedly raised by two jurors shortly after his trial, according to the Miami Herald.
The decision paves the way for Mr. Fahie to likely face a minimum 10-year prison sentence, and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 29.
His chief attorney, Theresa Van Vliet, declined to comment today on whether he plans to appeal.
Verdicts confirmed
During a hearing this morning, Judge Kathleen Williams, who presided over Mr. Fahie’s eight-day trial on drug-trafficking and money-laundering conspiracy charges, confirmed the verdicts on each of four counts against him.
The verdicts had come into question following the trial because two of the 12 jurors expressed concerns to court staff minutes after the unanimous guilty verdicts were read aloud in court on Feb. 8.
The two jurors, a man and a woman, said at the time that that the published verdicts on some of the counts hadn’t been their verdicts, Ms. Van Vliet wrote in a Feb. 13 legal filing.
She added at the time that she did not know which counts were disputed.
The defence subsequently asked the judge to re-poll the two jurors — a request opposed by prosecutors, who argued that the verdict should stand.
Hearing
This morning, Ms. Williams subpoenaed both jurors to court so that they could be questioned about the verdicts, according to the Miami Herald.
However, only the female juror showed up. After answering a short series of questions, she ultimately confirmed that her votes for the guilty verdicts had been her decision, the newspaper reported.
The male juror failed to show up for court, and the judge described him as “elusive” and said she would not make further efforts to question him, according to the Herald.
“I think we’re done,” Ms. Williams said. “There is no room at all to manoeuvre.”
Allegations
During his trial, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Fahie agreed to allow undercover operatives working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration to use VI waters to traffic thousands of kilograms of cocaine.
In exchange, they said, he expected to receive an initial $500,000 in cash and a cut of the proceeds from future drug sales.
Ms. Van Vliet repeatedly questioned the narrative that Mr. Fahie was engaging in illegal activity, arguing instead that he had an “earnestly held belief” that the United Kingdom government had sent an operative as part of an attempt to remove him from office.
Mr. Fahie could face a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison for the importation charge.
