jurors had been bribed.

Mr. Spurling, a lawyer who represents St. George's South, was quoted in The Royal Gazette on Friday as saying that wealthy drug dealers had bribed jurors to win acquittals.

"As a lawyer, the honourable member certainly should be ashamed of himself,'' Shadow Works Minister Mr. Walter Roberts said during the Motion to Adjourn.

"If he has some proof, let's see some proof.'' And Shadow Minister of Delegated and Legislative Affairs Mrs. Lois Browne Evans said the unsubstantiated comments were "a serious indictment of those who give up their time'' to serve on juries.

In the article, Mr. Spurling had noted the "abnormally high'' acquittal rate in drug trafficking trials, combined with the fact that drug pushers had lots of money. "I'm quite convinced that that kind of thing is happening,'' he said of bribes to jurors.

He had heard of "situations where people on a jury, for no logical reason, vote to acquit a particular accused when the evidence is quite strong to convict''.

And he called for improved guidance for jurors, as well as a review of the judicial system aimed at protecting jurors from bribery, threats, and intimidation.

Mr. Roberts said Mr. Spurling appeared to be sending up "a smokescreen...to take some heat off the Premier''.

Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan was under fire last week for saying Bermuda might have to stop presuming people were innocent when charged.

Instead, they would be assumed guilty, and have to prove their innocence. Sir John later said his comments were merely intended to provoke discussion.

But Mr. Roberts said the "innuendo'' spread by Mr. Spurling was dangerous, because people in the community would accept it as truth. Mrs. Browne Evans said that instead of adding to incendiary headlines, Government MPs should support the Opposition's call for a Royal Commission to study the causes of crime.

There is "a duty upon lawyers to speak in temperate tones when they are speaking to the Press'', she said.

It had been a hard-fought victory in 1963, when the courts began choosing jurors from the voter's list, she said. Until then, only property owners had served on juries and the fate of most accused was not in the hands of their peers. She resisted any move away from juries.

Speaking in the House on Friday, Mr. Spurling said the text of the article was "reasonably correct'', though he did not approve of the headline.

He was not suggesting jury trials should be abolished, but that the system should be reviewed.

Many lawyers and members of the public had remarked on what appeared to be an "above normal'' rate of acquittals and hung juries in drug trials, he said.

And Mr. Spurling had been approached on separate occasions by two jurors who were frustrated because fellow jurors had voted to acquit "in inexplicable circumstances''. He had heard similar reports second and third hand.

Sentences for jury tampering should be looked at because "we need to demonstrate that we are interested in protecting the public, as well as encouraging them to come forward'', he said.