Hempstead will miss new Barbados judge

Marston Gibson is a bass guitarist and church choir member in Hempstead.

Now he also is chief justice of the Court of Appeal of the island nation of Barbados.

Gibson, 57, a longtime member of St. George's Episcopal Church, has lived in the village since emigrating from Barbados in 1987. He also is a court attorney and referee at Nassau State Supreme Court in Mineola.

Gibson, who conducts nonjury trials in matrimonial and civil cases, said Thursday his job is "pretty much the same as a 'real judge,' as we say around here, except I'm appointed, not elected, and my $137,000-a-year salary is $1,000 more than a 'real' judge makes."

Gibson, a Rhodes Scholar with law degrees from the University of the West Indies and Oxford University in England, is scheduled to end his current job Tuesday and begin his new one Sept. 1.

St. George's Pastor P. Allister Rawlins, who praised Gibson's voice, said he "is our legal counsel and not only plays his guitar at the Caribbean Mass but also at the local nursing home once a month. We will miss him."

Divorced with two grown sons, Gibson has dual citizenship. He was naturalized here in 1996. "Neither country requires giving up citizenship, and I have no intention of doing so," Gibson said.

The appointment of Gibson, a well-known figure in his homeland, has not been without controversy in Barbados, primarily because he did not fill one legal requisite -- that of having practiced law in a commonwealth country for 15 years. That controversy grew when the law was changed this year to "commonwealth or common law" country, allowing Gibson, who has practiced in the States since 1989, to fit the bill.

"The problem is that he did not qualify under our laws," said Andrew Pilgrim, head of the Barbados Bar Association in the Parish of St. Michael. "So they changed the law for him. I don't have anything against him. I hope that he is going to be competent because we need that. But such appointments are all political and there is no transparency."

Gibson said the law is "antiquarian," and he had told Barbadian officials that even if he did not get the job, he supported the change. Pilgrim agreed the law is out of date but said it should have been changed before talking about Gibson for the post.

Gibson said he is not very political, one reason he never ran for a judgeship here. "But I accepted this post because I feel I have something to offer and can make a difference," he added.

A law lecturer at the University of the West Indies in Barbados early in his career, Gibson taught many area leaders as his students, including immediate past prime minister David Thompson.

"The current prime minister, Freundel Stuart, was a year ahead of me in high school," said Gibson, a frequent visitor to the island.

His current boss, Nassau's administrative judge, Anthony Marano, called Gibson "the ideal employee [with] extraordinary knowledge of the law and perfect temperament."

Gibson will be the top judge in Barbados, but decisions from his court can be appealed to the Caribbean Court of Justice.