The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has granted convicted killer James Ricardo Alexander Fields special leave to appeal his conviction and is expected to clarify “a serious point of law” for the local courts when they eventually hear his matter.Through his attorneys Andrew Pilgrim KC and Martie Garnes, Fields is urging the CCJ to overturn the Barbados Court of Appeal’s ruling that his conviction was safe.Last October, the Court of Appeal lowered the sentence of the convicted manslayer but dismissed the appeal against his conviction. From that decision, Fields, formerly of Bank Hall Main Road, St Michael, was ordered to serve 11 years for the February 18, 2010 shooting death of Michael Dear.That sentence began on July 3, 2020, five months after he was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by a jury in the High Court.He was initially sentenced to 22 years, minus the six years spent on remand among several factors, leaving him with 16 years to serve at Dodds. That sentence took effect from May 15, 2020.
