SENIOR MAGISTRATE REJECTS RECUSAL APPLICATION IN HEZEKIAH PARKER CASE

Hezekiah Parker Jr has now changed his plea to guilty on multiple charges. The new development came on Monday, after Chief Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel ruled she will not step aside from the drug and gun case against Parker.

Chief Magistrate Emanuel dismissed an application for recusal, ruling that the legal test for bias was not met.

Shortly after that decision, Parker changed his plea, moving from not guilty to guilty on all but one charge.

The application was raised by Parker’s lawyer, Sherfield Bowen, after he requested a sentencing indication, a process which required the magistrate to consider the facts of the case.

Bowen argued this could create a perception of bias if she continued to preside over the trial.

In her ruling, Magistrate Emanuel stressed that the test for recusal is an objective one, whether a fair-minded and informed observer would conclude there is a real possibility of bias.

She noted that sentencing indications or adverse rulings, by themselves, do not amount to bias.

Following the ruling, Parker pleaded guilty to unlawful possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, and possession of cannabis.

He maintained his not guilty plea to possession of cannabis with intent to supply, but that charge was later withdrawn by the prosecution.