Philipsburg:--- Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos admitted by email to SMN News that the main suspect Meyshane Johnson who admitted to Police that he was involved in the murder of American citizens Micheal and Thelma King sometime between September 19th and September 21st 2012 was summoned late for his Pro forma hearing which was held on Thursday January 10th, 2013. Johnson is currently in pre-trial detention for the killing of the Kings and the armed robbery of the Happy Star Chinese Restaurant. On Thursday Johnson did not appear in court because the Prosecution did not summon him on time, his lawyer Attorney at Law Brenda Brooks told the court. Mos said in his written statement that the suspect was indeed summoned too late and that should not have happened. St. Maarten's Chief Prosecutor further explained that the matter was addressed Thursday night. "Nevertheless, there still was time to correct that mistake and that was done immediately after the Court session. This suspect has now been summoned to appear in Court next Thursday at 11 am. This is still within his term of pre-trail detention. This session will still be a "Pro Forma" session." Wasting the court's time and attorney's time seems to be the norm since the Prosecution still has some time on their hands and the suspect in this case did not get his ticket to freedom after murdering two innocent people.
Mos further explained that "the two other suspects are due to be summoned in court on January 22nd and that also will be a Pro forma session since the psychiatric and psychological reports will not be completed by then. On January 22nd a so called instruction session will be organized, during which the defense and this office will be allowed to ask for any further investigation from either side. After these investigations have been completed and the reports have been submitted the case itself will be dealt with, as we see it now, at least no earlier than March 2013."
In this particular case the officers of KPSM worked by themselves without any assistance from any other police organization.
SMN News reporter asked the Chief Prosecutor if he did not think the actions of his office was out of place since the police worked very hard in solving one of the most gruesome murders within days. SMN News reporter also asked Mos if he felt what took place on Thursday is fair to the relatives of the Kings who are monitoring the procedure from the United States. In response to the questions asked, Mos said "The Police and this office have been in close contact with the relatives of the Kings since the investigation started. These contacts have been appreciated both by the family on one side and police and prosecutor's office on the other. Those contacts are valuable for us too. The family was already informed about yesterday's mishap but also that this mistake was repaired directly after. The police and the prosecutor's office worked strongly together in this case as we do in any other. We are a team. The one cannot work without the other. The success in this case has been the result of a good and strong co-production. I am glad that the hard work of many in both organizations has lead to solving this case and bringing the culprits to Court."
Despite the statements Mos gave SMN News on the case of the Kings and the procedures that were messed up on Thursday by the Prosecutor's Office, SMN News received a copy of the 2011 annual report from the public relations officer of the Attorney General of Curacao, St. Maarten, and the BES islands and it was astonishing to read that the island's Chief Prosecutor in his report which is one year and days late before it was made available stated that the police of KPSM were mostly responsible for the high dismissal rate of cases. He said suspects were released because proper procedures were not followed. The dismissal rate for 2011 the Chief Prosecutor of St. Maarten stated was over 10% and some of the suspects were deported to non-treaty countries.
While SMN News has been critical of the performance of the country's Prosecutor's Office and National Police it must be made clear that the police KPSM are investigators, the buck stops with the Prosecutor's Office, they are the ones that prosecute all cases and therefore it is unimaginable that the police was blamed for the dismissal rate of 2011. It should also be noted that when SMN News contacted the management of KPSM for a reaction to the report we were told that they did not receive a copy of the report that was disseminated to the media therefore they were unable to comment.
