Widespread imprisoned dancehall artiste Adidja Palmer, higher often called Vybz Kartel, and his co-convicts: Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John, can have their sentences quashed on the premise of jury tampering.
The Court docket of Enchantment in Jamaica will resolve whether or not to order a retrial or set them free.
The judgment was handed down at present by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, the very best courtroom of enchantment for Jamaica and plenty of Commonwealth international locations.
“The judicial committee of the Privy Council has unanimously concluded that the appeals needs to be allowed and the appellants convictions needs to be quashed on the grounds of juror misconduct and that the case needs to be remitted to the Court docket of Enchantment to resolve whether or not to order a retrial of the appellants for the homicide of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams,” the Privy Council acknowledged.
The appellants have been sentenced to life in jail for the homicide of Clive “Lizard” Williams in 2014 however appealed to have their convictions overturned. Their first enchantment, to the Court docket of Enchantment in Jamaica, was dismissed in 2020.
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The problem within the Privy Council enchantment was whether or not their convictions have been secure in gentle of the next grounds of problem:
- Ought to the trial choose have excluded the telecommunications proof relied on by the prosecution?
- How ought to the choose have dealt with the allegations that there have been makes an attempt to bribe members of the jury in the course of the trial? Ought to the jury have been discharged?
- Was the choose improper to ask the jury to achieve a verdict late within the day, given the particular circumstances of the case?
Situation of jury tampering
Jury tampering emerged as a significant level of concern in the course of the enchantment.
In the course of the 64-day trial, the choose was alerted to an allegation {that a} juror had tried to bribe others by providing $500,000 JMD for a particular verdict. After investigating the allegation and consulting with counsel for each the prosecution and protection, the choose opted to proceed the trial with out dismissing the jury or the implicated juror. The juror was later discovered responsible.
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Questions have been raised concerning the trial choose’s dealing with of the bribery difficulty and whether or not sufficient consideration was given to mitigate any potential prejudice. The prosecution’s attorneys stated, “Even when there have been irregularities within the trial, they didn’t lead to a severe miscarriage of justice.” They stated that even when there was one juror who was bribed, there have been a further 10 jurors who got here in with a responsible verdict.
The prosecution had requested a retrial if their convictions have been to be overturned.
