The prosecution in the "Pawpa" Brown extradition trial suffered another setback today and now the accused drug dealer's lawyer says he could be home in time for Independence Day. The blow this time came in the Supreme Court where Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh denied Solicitor General Elson Kaseke's request to force the Chief Magistrate to order a case stated.
Kaseke, who is representing the United States government, said that Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord failed to comply with admissibility requirements of the Extradition Treaty when he excluded incriminating recordings of phone calls between Brown and an alleged accomplice. The Chief Justice heard arguments from both Kaseke and Brown's lead attorney Dean Barrow this afternoon. Immediately after he ruled that it would, if he were to allow the request for a case stated before conclusion of the proceeding in the Magistrate's Court.
With this ruling, on Monday the case against "Pawpa" Brown will proceed in the Magistrate's Court without that key piece of evidence. Barrow told 7NEWS that without the excluded evidence, there is no case against "Pawpa" Brown. The Sol Gen said he accepts the ruling and intimated that one possibility is that the Brown Brothers will be released and re-arrested on new warrants which might already be in the process of being drafted.
Only Andrew "Pawpa" Brown appeared in court today. Both he and his older brother Floyd have been in jail since July 15th when they were picked up. They are both wanted in Miami for allegedly importing 18.1 kilos of cocaine in November of 1999.
