JUSTICE Claudette La Bennett is expected to rule today on a Defence submission that there is imbalance in the composition of the jury in the Annandale murder case at Demerara Assizes.
Nine women and three men are on the panel sitting at the trial of Khemraj Bhoodoo called ‘Sham’, who is indicted for the unlawful killing of Litendra Roopnarine nicknamed ‘Boyo’ on July 5, 2005, at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.

Attorney-at-law Mrs. Pamela De Santos, a member of the team representing the accused, had advanced the argument in a move to abort the trial.

She contended that the selection of the jurors was not in compliance with the Criminal Law (Procedure) Act, Chapter 10:01 and cannot result in a lawful verdict.

The lawyer cited, more particularly, Sections 17 to 28 of the law, which requires each panel to reflect, as near as possible, the same male/female ratio as appears in the Jurors’ Book.

Before DeSantos argued the point, the judge had conducted an inquiry in chambers to determine whether the original selection of the names in the Jurors Book, from which the panel was chosen by two marshals in the presence of another judge, was done in keeping with the stipulated requirements.

The two marshals were called to testify in open Court before Justice La Bennett yesterday.