A man convicted of murder is seeking to sue the island’s top prosecutor over her handling of a review into criminal cases involving evidence from a since-discredited DNA expert.

Jay Dill, who was jailed for life in 2013 for fatally shooting footballer Randy Robinson, filed an application in the Supreme Court on Wednesday for permission to seek a judicial review of a decision taken by Cindy Clarke, the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Mr Dill, 36, in a sworn affidavit accompanying the application, said that on January 20 this year, Ms Clarke refused to disclose material relating to her review of convictions involving expert evidence from Trinity DNA Solutions and its founder Candy Zuleger, and refused to refer his murder conviction for independent expert review.

He claimed the latter refusal went against undertakings the DPP gave to the Privy Council in 2024 about how the review of hundreds of convictions would be handled.

“I respectfully contend that the DPP’s decision was unlawful, irrational, procedurally unfair and contrary to legitimate expectation and that it effectively prevents me from meaningfully pursuing appellate remedies,” said Mr Dill, as he asked the court to overturn it.

Forensic scientist Ms Zuleger worked on about 450 cases for the Bermuda Police Service between 2006 and 2016, appearing repeatedly as a prosecution witness before the Supreme Court in criminal cases.

Problems with her DNA analysis techniques emerged in 2024 when the convictions of a man jailed for life for murder and attempted murder, Julian Washington, were quashed by the Privy Council in London because of inaccurate evidence she gave at his trial.

Two more potential “miscarriages of justice” were identified by the review, which ended in August.

The review involved looking at all of the evidence in the prosecutions which resulted in convictions, with referral to an independent forensic expert only for those cases where it was concluded a jury or magistrate might not have convicted without the DNA evidence.

Mr Dill was one of 14 serious crime convicts who sent a joint letter to Ms Clarke in January asking “urgently” for information about the involvement of Ms Zuleger in their matters.

Ms Clarke told Mr Dill in a January 20 letter that his case was not referred to independent DNA expert Barbara Llewellyn during the review “because, having considered the nature of the evidence as a whole, I concluded that your conviction was safe, irrespective of the DNA evidence provided by Ms Zuleger”.

The DPP also told the Westgate prisoner: “I do not accept that there was any obligation to notify you personally of the review.

“The existence of the review was a matter of public record.”

Prosecutors said at the trial of Mr Dill that DNA from him, as well as gunshot residue component particles, were found on motorcycles seized as part of the investigation.

Further component particles were found on clothing belonging to the defendant.

In 2016, the Court of Appeal threw out an appeal by Mr Dill against his murder conviction, finding that though the evidence in the case was circumstantial, it was compelling.

He now wants to take his case to the Privy Council in London, Bermuda’s highest court of appeal.

He said in his affidavit that Ms Clarke’s decision in January denied him “access to the information necessary to determine whether my conviction was affected by the flawed DNA methodology identified” in Mr Washington’s case.

Mr Dill said: “Without disclosure of the review materials, I cannot meaningfully assess whether there are grounds to pursue an appeal.”

He compared his situation with that of his brother, Kofi Dill, who was convicted of handling a firearm in 2011.

Ms Clarke’s review found that Kofi Dill’s guilty plea was tainted by flawed DNA evidence from Trinity but the Court of Appeal declined to quash his conviction in November.

Jay Dill alleged: “The fact that the DPP facilitated such a referral [to the Court of Appeal] in that case, but refuses even to disclose the underlying review materials in my case underscores the arbitrariness of the decision under challenge.”

Mr Dill is being assisted in his pursuit of a judicial review by paralegal Eron Hill, the founder of the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative. Mr Hill told The Royal Gazette he filed Mr Dill’s application with the court on Wednesday.

Ms Clarke was contacted for comment.

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