Popular dancehall artist Vybz Kartel won the appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC, for its acronym in English) UK based, what his life sentence was overturned for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams occurred in August 2011.
Kartel, which name is Adidja Palmer, was found guilty in 2014 along with the singer too Shawn “Storm” Campbell and his friends Kahira Jones Y André St. John for the beating murder of his former partner “Lizard” Williams according to Jamaican courts.
This decision of the Privy Council, which includes the four involved in the event, returns the case to the Court of Appeal of Jamaica which will determine whether a new trial should be held.
To the date, both Kartel and Jones and St. John fulfilled 12 years and a half in prison.
The history of the case
Regarding the case, Prosecutors relied on cell phone records and testimony from Lamar “Wee” Chow, the only witness of the event, what He said that Lizard was killed in Kartel's house a Havendale, St. Andrew, in August 2011.
After a trial of 64 days in Kingston Circuit Court, the longest in Jamaican history, The men were sentenced to life in prison in April 2014. Later, in April 2020, The Jamaican Court of Appeal upheld the conviction., but reduced his parole eligibility by two and a half years each.
Then, Those convicted were allowed to appeal to the Privy Council and the appeal was held in London last 14 Y 15 February where defenses claimed crucial cellular evidence was improperly obtained, that the jury was tainted after an attempted bribe by one of its members and that the trial judge, Lennox Campbell, put undue pressure on the jury to reach a verdict.
The foundations of the Privy Council
A) Yes, this Thursday, Privy Council judges (Lord Reed, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Briggs, Lord Burrows y Lady Simler) unanimously decided that the appeal should be allowed and that the conviction should be overturned.
The judges, what They reached their decision solely on the question of jury misconduct, did not express their opinion about improperly obtained evidence or whether undue pressure was placed on the jury.
They criticized the way in which the trial judge handled jury tampering issues, including the continuation of the trial with a corrupt jury and the lack of measures to mitigate potential bias.
At the beginning of the trial, Juror acquitted after expressing fear for her son, who at that time was being held in the same prison as the accused.
Later, The judge realized that another juror, Livingston Caine (jury), had tried to offer a bribe to the jury president and other members of the jury in favor of Kartel's acquittal. But nevertheless, the judge did not acquit Caine, who was later found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
