Il-Pinzell's victim's widow asks to join alleged murderer's Constitutional case

The lawyer for a widow and children of a murder victim has asked to be admitted into a Constitutional case filed by alleged murderer Marco Pace il-Pinzell as a challenge to the jury system.

Marco Pace was  due to go on trial for the murder of Victor Magri, iċ-Ċinku, almost 14 years ago. Magri’s body was found in his car in Ta’ Qali, having been shot four times in the chest.

The jury was on halted on Constitutional grounds, however. In a Constitutional application, Pace’s lawyers raised a number of shortcomings in Malta’s existing jury system, ranging from the opaque nature of the juror selection process, to the juror’s lack of legal training ahead of a trial.

Their court application had criticised the decades-old system, arguing that it gives no pre-trial legal training and precious little support or guidance for jurors tasked with determining a person’s guilt or innocence.

Lists of Maltese jurors are drawn up every two years in meetings between the Police Commissioner, Attorney General and the chiefs of lawyers’ and legal procurators’ lobbies.

The selection process is shrouded in mystery.

That method, Pace’s lawyers noted, stood in stark contrast to the random sampling method of juror selection and training used in other jurisdictions, such as the UK.

In an application filed this morning, Josephine Magri, widow of Victor, together with his children, presented an application in the First Hall of the Civil Court in its Constitutional jurisdiction, saying that they asked to be introduced to the Constitutional case as interested parties.

Lawyer Joe Brincat signed the application.