JAMAICAN dancehall artist Vybz Kartel's conviction for murder has been overturned.
Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, was convicted by a majority verdict in 2014 and sentenced to life for the murder of Clive "Lizard" Williams on August 14, 2011.
Three others – Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John – were also convicted for the murder while a fifth man was acquitted.
On March 14, they successfully appealed their convictions. In a ruling, which was also delivered live by the Privy Council law lords, the UK court, Jamaica’s highest appellate court, ruled that the convictions of the four should be quashed on the ground of juror misconduct.
Jamaica’s Court of Appeal will now have to decide if to order a retrial. News reports out of Jamaica said Palmer and the others will remain incarcerated until the appellate court decides if they should face a new trial.
The veteran attorney said there are several factors why the men should not be tried again.
"These relate to how long the persons have been in custody, the length of the trial and the cost to the defendants to find new lawyers," Samuels explained.
He also pointed to what he described as pretrial publicity, should a new trial be ordered, and adverse publicity in the public domain about the case.
"Those are the main factors against a retrial," Samuels stated.
Jamaican attorney Bert Samuels, who was part of the men’s legal team, was reported at a press conference as saying there should not be a retrial.
He said several factors weighed against a new trial. These included the time the four have been in custody, the length of the trial and the costs to hire new attorneys.
He also cited pretrial and adverse publicity.
The trial at the High Court in 2014 lasted 64 days and was said to be the longest in Jamaica’s history.
In April 2020, the Jamaica Court Of Appeal upheld their convictions but reduced their parole eligibility by two and a half years each.
Prosecutors had relied on cellphone records and testimony from Lamar "Wee" Chow, the sole eyewitness, who said that Lizard was killed at Palmer’s home in Havendale, St Andrew, in August 2011.
At their appeal to the Privy Council, the men’s lawyers argued that the cellphone evidence was improperly obtained and that the jury was tainted after one juror allegedly tried to bribe other jurors to acquit the four.
They contended the trial judge failed to properly enquire into the allegations of juror misconduct and also sent the jury to retire to consider their verdict late in the evening, putting undue pressure on them to reach a verdict.
On Thursday, the Privy Council judges – Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Briggs, Lord Burrows, and Lady Simler – were unanimous in deciding that the appeal should be allowed and that the convictions were unsafe and should be quashed.
While expressing "considerable sympathy with the dilemma faced by the trial judge," after the allegations of bribery, they said he should have discharged the jury.
The Privy Council said a direction to the jury wa
