aid system.

Puisne Judge Richard Ground and lawyer Mark Pettingill, who both sit on the Legal Aid Committee, were responding to claims by several Operation Cleansweep defendants that they were being denied the right to legal aid.

One of the men, Antoine Darrell, who said he has been turned down four times, this week asked Senior Magistrate Will Francis whether he thought it was fair that he was being held without bail and not being allowed his rights.

Darrell appeared for mention in Magistrates' Court with a handful of others arrested in the US/Bermuda joint drug sting operation last month.

Mr. Francis ordered the men, who have been on remand at Westgate Correctional Facility since their arrest, to return to court in two weeks for mention again.

Duty counsel Peter Farge later told The Royal Gazette that some of the men, who could face up to five years in prison, qualified for legal aid.

He said aid could be granted to those charged with offences which carried a penalty of five or more years in prison.

But Mr. Ground, in a statement to The Royal Gazette , said it was not normal practice for legal aid to be granted for Magistrates' Court summary cases because of the committee's limited budget.

But he said it was not a fixed policy and each case was reviewed on an individual basis and legal aid was granted in summary cases that the committee deemed warranted it.

"The committee does not consider that the grant of legal aid is mandatory for these offences,'' he added.

He also noted that according to the Legal Aid Act, legal aid for the offence of supplying a controlled drug was only mandatory if it was prosecuted in the Supreme Court.

"The Committee sees no reason to treat people arrested as part of Operation Cleansweep any differently from other applicants for legal aid,'' Mr. Justice Ground continued.

"The committee will look at each application carefully and decide whether or not to grant legal aid on a case by case basis.'' Even if a person was not represented by an attorney, the courts would do its best to see that he or she received a fair trial, he added.

Mr. Pettingill agreed with Mr. Justice Ground, saying the process of review was done fairly and on a case-by-case basis.

But he said: "If it is the truth these men picked up in `Cleansweep' can't get legal representation, one has to be concerned that their rights are being looked out for. The system is one of checks and balances...'' And Mr. Pettingill noted: "These are not over complicated cases of law. It would not take long for an experienced duty counsel to give advice to those who need it. No matter how overwhelming evidence in a case may look a person has a right to a fair hearing.'' While acknowledging that Operation Cleansweep was a "thorough'' one since every case involved videotaped evidence, he said: "I have concerns with regards to the fact these cases are drawing such severe penalties (for the amounts). However, what I've seen of the evidence so far it's pretty strong stuff.'' Sentences were another issue the Operation Cleansweep defendants in remand have complained about.

But Senior Magistrate Will Francis told The Royal Gazette that the amount of drugs the men were accused of selling was not as important as the fact that they allegedly were involved in an "open supermarket'' for the supply of drugs on public streets.

"They did not care who they sold to,'' Mr. Francis said. "They sell to whosoever comes along, including DEA agents; that's why they got caught.'' He added that the supplying was a different realm from "simple'' possession.

For example, he noted, three cruise ship passengers who were recently caught with cannabis and LSD were not treated differently from anyone else. Sees tory below.

"This was simple possession,'' Mr. Francis said. "The only fair thing to do was to divide the amount by three. You couldn't charge them all for the full amount because they were sharing the drugs. Cleansweep is where people were caught in the act of supplying drugs.'' Richard Ground