Bernard Turner will spend his final day "on top of the hill" as the DPP today and is expected to be sworn in as a new Supreme Court Justice on November 2.
The outgoing director spoke with the Bahama Journal yesterday after appearing in the Supreme Court as a prosecutor for the final time and said leaving the Attorney General’s Office will be "bittersweet."
"It will be hard to leave because the AG’s office has really been the substantive job of my legal career," he said.
"I worked in private practice for just a few months before I joined the office and the 21 years since I have been there, I have been heavily engaged, obviously in criminal prosecutions in this country and for the past 10 years have been responsible for the Department of Prosecutions so leaving that institution and leaving the people in that institution will be difficult."
Mr. Turner’s last case was the high profile extortion trial involving Hollywood actor, John Travolta.
He was expected to be sworn in as a new justice on October 1, but the government granted him an extension to complete the trial.
However, the jury was discharged in that matter and a retrial ordered by Supreme Court Justice Anita Allen after South Andros MP Picewell Forbes prematurely and incorrectly announced at the PLP’s convention that former PLP Senator Pleasant Bridgewater had been acquitted of extortion related charges even though the jury was still deliberating.
Bridgewater and former Grand Bahama ambulance driver, Tarino Lightbourne are accused of conspiring to extort and attempting to extort $25 million from the Hollywood actor after his son died earlier this year.
When the Journal asked Mr. Turner about not being allowed to prosecute the retrial, he said that there was nothing he could do about it.
"That’s life and these things happen so someone will come after me and finish off the job," he said.
"We have to accept that that is how the justice system works because it must be seen to be fair and transparent."
Mr. Turner also served as the lead prosecutor in the high profile murder trial of international handbag designer Harl Taylor.
On trial for the brutal slaying is 22-year-old Troynicko McNeil.
That trial resulted in a hung jury and must also be retried.
"I have a lot of respect for many of the legal professionals in that place and I have enjoyed intermittingly the work that I have done," Mr. Turner said.
"It has been very difficult at times and certainly it has been very stressful and time consuming, but it has also been one which I find personally rewarding."
Mr. Turner said he is looking forward to another form of public service to the country.
"But without a doubt leaving the AG’s office will cause me some sadness because they are like family but I am leaving them and must now go on to other things," he said.
