Chief Magistrate (acting) Faith McGusty has ruled that the election fraud trial will proceed summarily, with the restart of hearings set from February 17, 2025.
In her ruling on Monday morning, the acting Chief Magistrate cited the Administration of Justice Act in agreeing with the prosecution’s submission that the matters could be proceeded with either indictably or summarily.
Acknowledging the length of time the matters have already been before the court, as well as the long road ahead before these matters are concluded, Magistrate McGusty noted that it is in the public interest as well as the interest of the accused, to have these matters proceed summarily instead of indictably.
She noted the pitfalls of dealing with the matters indictably, since this would mean every charge would have to be dealt with separately.
However, she did not delve into the matter of penalties, since according to her this would presuppose guilt.
Meanwhile, there was much back and forth regarding the dates for the case. While there were no difficulties with the case being held from February 17 to February 19, defense counsel Eusi Anderson indicated that he would be leaving the country for China and that this would prevent him from joining in on the case for the remainder of February. He even ruled out participating via zoom, since the time court would be in session would be “sleep time” for him in China.
However, Anderson did commit to “clearing his schedule” in March and all parties were able to agree on the cases continuing from March 17th to 18th and 20th to 21st.
After March 24th, however, it was agreed that since the defense has other cases during this week, the dates would be left tentative until they can be finalised in consultation with those other courts.
