R v Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony) - Sentence Judgment

¶ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 1 of 7 IN THE GRAND COURT OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS 1 CRIMINAL SIDE 2 3 IND NO: 0001/2021 4 5 6 REGINA 7 8 v. 9 10 JASHAWN OWEN ANTHONY JOHNSON 11 12 13 14 Appearances: Ms. Candia James-Malcolm and Mr. Greg 15 Walcolm for the Crown 16 17 Mr. Courtenay Griffiths Q.C. instructed by 18 Mr. Dennis Brady of Brady Attorneys 19 20 Before: Justice Roger Chapple (Actg.) 21 Heard: 30th November 2021 and 6th December 2021 22 23 24 HEADNOTE 25 Criminal Law – Murder – s.181 of the Penal Code – Exceptional Circumstances 26 27 28 29 SENTENCE JUDGMENT 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 2 of 7

¶ [1] Jashawn Owen Anthony Johnson. Following a trial by judge alone, you were 1 convicted of murder. It is now my duty to pass sentence upon you for that offence. 2 This sentence judgment should be read in conjunction with my verdict judgment1, 3 which sets out, in comprehensive detail, the reasons for my conclusions, together 4 with the facts and background to this sad case. 5 6

¶ [2] As you know, law permits only one sentence following conviction for murder – and 7 that is a sentence of life imprisonment. That is the sentence which in due course I 8 will pass upon you. 9 10

¶ [3] I am required, pursuant to s.14(1) of the Conditional Release Act (2019 Revision) 11 to specify the minimum term you must serve in prison before the Conditional 12 Release Board can consider whether you should be released on license into the 13 community. Section 14(1) of the Conditional Release Act provides as follows: 14 15 “Notwithstanding any other Law to the contrary, when sentencing a prisoner to 16 a term of imprisonment for life, the court shall specify the period of 17 incarceration the prisoner shall serve before the prisoner is eligible to be 18 considered for conditional release on licence, the period being such as the court 19 considers appropriate to satisfy requirements of retribution, deterrence and 20 rehabilitation, but for murder, the period shall be thirty years before the 21 prisoner is eligible for conditional release unless there are — 22 23 (a) extenuating circumstances, exceptional in nature, in which case 24 the court may impose a lower period of incarceration; or 25 26 (b) aggravating circumstances, exceptional in nature, in which 27 case the court may impose a longer period of incarceration.” 28 29 30

¶ [4] A list of those factors which may amount to extenuating or aggravating 31 circumstances is to be found in Schedule 12 to the Conditional Release of Prisoners 32 Regulations 2016. As noted in the Cayman Islands Sentencing Guidelines for 33 Violent Offences (June 2021), “this categorisation is not exclusive since it provides 34 1 Dated 3rd May 2021 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 3 of 7 also for consideration of “any other circumstances which may be considered 1 relevant.” 2 3

¶ [5] In considering the minimum term to be specified in this case, I have been assisted 4 by written and oral submissions from both prosecution and defence counsel. I also 5 have the benefit of a Social Inquiry Report (SIR) and a Victim Impact Report (VIR), 6 prepared by the Department for Community Rehabilitation (DCR). 7 8

¶ [6] This is a tragic case from every possible point of view - first and foremost, of course, 9 for the family and friends of the man you killed, Michael Aaron Bush. I respectfully 10 repeat my condolences for the loss suffered by Mr. Bush’s loved ones. The deceased 11 came from a close and loving family. He is described by his family as a good son, 12 kind and considerate. 13 14

¶ [7] No sentence I pass can turn back the clock or undo what happened in the early hours 15 of Christmas Eve 2020. 16 17

¶ [8] And this is a tragic case from your point of you too. You were only 20 years of age 18 at the time of these events; you are 21 years old now. You had never been in any sort 19 of trouble prior to that time and thus, what you did, can properly be described as out 20 of character. 21 22

¶ [9] I readily accept that you did not go out looking for trouble that night. However, as 23 a result of your actions, you have taken the life of another and ruined a good part of 24 your own young life. 25 26

¶ [10] I explained in the course of my verdict judgment my factual findings in this case and 27 of course it is upon those findings that I now approach sentence. 28 29 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 4 of 7

¶ [11] I concluded that the deceased had made unpleasant threats towards you and - I quote 1 - “was adversely affected by drink and was generally aggressive, belligerent and by 2 the end of the evening, if not before, spoiling for a fight.” An independent witness, 3 Ms Shana Ferguson, whose evidence in large measure I accepted, described Mr Bush 4 as “drunk, angry and loud.” Given what others have said about Mr Bush – as noted 5 in the VIR, his behaviour that night was out of character, as was yours. 6 7

¶ [12] Needless to say, nothing that Mr Bush said or did that night could begin to justify 8 your subsequent actions. The stark reality is that having been disrespected by Mr 9 Bush, you returned to the car which had brought you to the Strand, armed yourself 10 with a knife and returned to the scene to await a chance to get even, as you saw it, to 11 put right the slight to which you felt you had been subjected. As I said then, the 12 theme of disrespect was one to which you returned several times in the course of 13 your evidence. 14 15

¶ [13] Notions of respect and disrespect are at the heart of this case. It is, I am sure, because 16 you considered that you had been disrespected that you engineered a further 17 confrontation with the deceased – when you were armed, and he was not. Your 18 purpose was to demonstrate that you were someone who should be treated with more 19 respect than he had shown you. 20 21

¶ [14] I am not sure that you intended to kill your victim; I am sure you intended to cause 22 him really serious harm, at the very latest when you produced the knife. 23 24

¶ [15] I state the obvious when I say that such trivial matters as having been slighted are no 25 reason for violence of this or any sort. If only the young would learn that lesson 26 sooner. 27 28 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 5 of 7

¶ [16] I have anxiously considered whether there are extenuating circumstances, within the 1 meaning of s.14(1) of the Conditional Release Act which would allow me to depart 2 from the minimum 30-year term provided. The approach to be adopted was set out 3 by the Chief Justice in R v Anglin2, confirmed by the Cayman Islands Court of 4 Appeal (CICA) in Ricketts and others v R3 and is summarised in the Cayman 5 Islands Sentencing Guidelines for Violent Offences. The Chief Justice explained: 6 7 “When determining whether the circumstances of a case were exceptional in 8 nature so as to justify a minimum term for an offence of murder other than 30 9 years: 10 (a) the first step in a two-stage analysis was to decide whether there 11 were circumstances that were exceptional in nature; 12 (b) to be “exceptional,” the circumstances had to be unusual or 13 uncommon, although they did not need to be unprecedented or 14 very rare; 15 (c) the assessment should be holistic, taking into account all of the 16 circumstances; 17 (d) the second step was to decide whether, in light of any 18 exceptional circumstances that had been found to exist, a 19 minimum term of 30 years would be arbitrary and 20 disproportionate; 21 (e) the intent behind the legislation, i.e. the protection of the public, 22 was to be kept firmly in mind; and 23 (f) in the absence of circumstances that were truly exceptional in 24 nature, the court had no discretion to depart from the 30-year 25 norm.” 26 27

¶ [17] Two of the extenuating circumstances specifically mentioned in Schedule 12 are, in 28 my judgement present in this case, that is to say: 29 (a) an intention to cause serious bodily harm rather than to kill; and 30 (d) the fact that the offender was provoked 31 32

¶ [18] Here, of course “provoked” is used in its general, rather than its very much more 33 limited legal sense. 34 35 2 [2018] 1 CILR 85 3 [2019] 2 CILR 666 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 6 of 7

¶ [19] In the course of my verdict judgment I discussed and rejected the defence of 1 provocation. However, I have already referred to my conclusions about Mr Bush’s 2 attitude that evening, which did in fact provoke – in the sense that it was the catalyst 3 for your subsequent actions. 4 5

¶ [20] Paragraph 14 of the section dealing with the offence of murder in the Cayman 6 Islands Sentencing Guidelines for Violent Offences gives guidance which is 7 helpful in this case: 8 9 “Where the offender is under 21, especially if the offender has no previous 10 convictions that are treated as relevant, this may constitute an exceptional factor 11 justifying a reduction in the minimum period (depending upon the level of 12 maturity of the offender). If so, the reduction is likely to be between 2–4 years 13 depending on the other circumstances.” 14 15

¶ [21] Having seen and heard from you in the course of the trial you were, in my judgement, 16 at the time of this offence, an immature and volatile 20-year-old, less able than one 17 with more experience of life to keep in perspective perceived slights and aggressive 18 behaviour towards you. 19 20

¶ [22] I remind myself again that my approach should be holistic, “taking into account all 21 of the circumstances” to “decide whether, in light of any exceptional circumstances 22 that had been found to exist, a minimum term of 30 years would be arbitrary and 23 disproportionate.” 24 25

¶ [23] I conclude that the circumstances of this case are exceptional in nature. 26 27

¶ [24] I further conclude that a minimum term of 30 years would indeed be arbitrary, 28 disproportionate and too harsh, particularly bearing in mind: 29 30 a. Your age and previous good character 31 32 b. Your relative immaturity, both at the time of this offence and now 33 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sentence Judgment: R v. Johnson (Jashawn Owen Anthony). Ind. 0001/2021 Coram: Chapple J. (Actg.). Date: 11th January 2022. Page 7 of 7 c. The earlier behaviour of the deceased towards you which I think provoked you 1 (unreasonably and not so as to afford you any defence to murder) to return to the 2 car, arm yourself with a knife, return to the scene and wait for an opportunity to 3 right the wrong that you perceived had been done to you. 4 5 d. That I cannot be sure that you intended to kill and thus proceed on the basis that 6 it was not; rather, you intended really serious harm. The intention was not a long- 7 standing one. The events that led immediately to his death unfolded rapidly. 8 9

¶ [25] In considering all the circumstances of the case, I do not forget that there was some 10 planning and premeditation in your actions, as is evidenced by your return to the car 11 to arm yourself and thereafter waiting for an opportunity for another encounter with 12 Mr Bush. A “significant degree of planning or premeditation” is listed in s14 as a 13 potentially aggravating circumstance. But such planning and premeditation as there 14 was, related, in my judgement, to you wanting to level the score to put right the 15 disrespect shown to you by whatever means presented itself. The degree of planning 16 or premeditation cannot properly be described as significant. 17 18

¶ [26] The sentence I pass upon you is one of life imprisonment. The minimum term you 19 must serve before the Conditional Release Board can consider your release from 20 prison back into the community on licence is 24 years. All the time that you have 21 thus far spent in prison shall count towards the serving of that minimum term. 22 23 Dated this the 11th day of January 2022 24 25 Justice Roger Chapple 26 Acting Judge of the Grand Court 27