A prosecutor has been fined $1,000 and admonished by her professional body after her remarks on Facebook that a defendant was lying threatened to derail his murder trial.

Takiyah Burgess's comments that "Takiyah is in court ready for the lies" and "Takiyah is listening to a pack of lies" were posted while defendant Antoine Anderson was giving evidence on February 11.

Anderson was later convicted, along with his brother-in-law Philip Bradshaw, of shooting father-of-three Aquil Richardson dead on Boxing Day 2007.

Ms Burgess' comments were spotted on the popular networking website during the Supreme Court trial by Anderson's Bermuda-based lawyer Elizabeth Christopher. Her calls to Ms Burgess failed to get them removed from her page and prompted another entry about the case.

This prompted Anderson's British Queen's Counsel Benjamin Nolan and Bradshaw's lawyer Anesta Weekes QC to ask Chief Justice Justice Ground to halt the trial and discharge the jury.

Mr. Nolan protested: "At this stage, this critical stage... whether deliberately or not, a member of the prosecution team has gone online to say that the defendant's evidence in this case is in fact lies. Our concern is this: should any members of the jury have seen it or been alerted to it by other Facebook members, there may well be a risk of bias."

Ms Weekes told the Chief Justice: "In my 27 years at the Bar I haven't come across this. It's new to me. For this sort of comment to be made by a member of the prosecution team, that's what gives it its special seriousness."

Ms Burgess a Bermudian junior Crown counsel who was called to the bar five years ago was out at a dental appointment when the issue arose. Her page listed her as having 449 Facebook friends who, the lawyers feared, could all see her comments.

A colleague from the Department of Public Prosecutions was dispatched to track her down as the Chief Justice warned: "There comes a point when if she doesn't take it down, she goes to jail. She'd better take it down right now."

They disappeared minutes later and he eventually decided the trial should continue.

However, he told the court he took the matter "very seriously" and planned to report it to the Bar Council and Director of Public Prosecutions.

The Bar Council, which is the professional body for Bermuda's lawyers, went on to launch its own complaint against Ms Burgess.

This led to a disciplinary tribunal comprising of a judge and two lawyers being appointed by the Chief Justice to hear the matter. It was announced in the Official Gazette on Friday that the tribunal found Ms Burgess guilty of two counts of improper conduct.

She had, it said "conducted herself in a manner which brought the profession into disrepute and/or alternatively in a manner prejudicial to the administration of justice" and "failed to act fairly and dispassionately in her role as prosecutor". Her punishment was an admonishment and a $1,000 fine.

Kiernan Bell, President of the Bermuda Bar Council commented: "The Bar Council is entirely satisfied with the decision of the disciplinary tribunal and feels that the admonition and fine was both fair and proportionate.

"So far as the Bar Council is concerned, the conduct in question was a serious breach of the professional code of conduct. Lawyers, and prosecutors in particular, must act fairly and dispassionately in the course of their duties, and Ms Burgess' postings on Facebook were clearly inappropriate."

However, Ms Bell also commended the prosecutor, stating: "Ms Burgess accepted that her conduct fell short of acceptable standards and she has, since this incident, conducted herself in a manner which is beyond reproach. I have no doubt that she can put this behind her and enjoy a successful career at the bar."

Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Field said: "This is a serious matter and it has hung over her head since the beginning of the year when it occurred.

"We have dealt with it as an internal disciplinary matter. Prior to this incident, Ms. Takiyah Burgess had an unblemished record. We take the view that she is a promising young Bermudian lawyer at the beginning of her career and it is not appropriate for the consequences of her actions to be disproportionate to her errors.

"Often lawyers have made errors early in their career and have learnt from them and had successful careers thereafter."

Ms Burgess declined to comment.