The judicial committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) in London has quashed the murder conviction of Jamaican reggae star Vybz Kartel, who is likely to face a retrial.
Vybz Kartel—real name Adidja Palmer—appealed along with co-defendants Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John, who were all convicted of murdering Clive “Lizard” Williams in Jamaica on Aug. 16, 2011.
Kartel, 48, is a household name in Jamaica, where he had a number of dancehall reggae hit songs, including “Fever,” “Guns Like Mine,” and “Bad Man.”
On Thursday Lord Lloyd-Jones read out the ruling and said, “The convictions should be quashed on the grounds of juror misconduct and the case should be remitted to the court of appeals of Jamaica to decide whether to order a retrial of the appellant for the murder of Clive Williams.”
Mr. Williams has not been seen since Aug. 16, 2011 and his body has never been found.
Kartel was also accused of murdering businessman Barrington “Bossy” Burton, but charges were dropped by prosecutors in 2013.
Jamaica became independent in 1962 but remains part of the Commonwealth and because it has not yet become a republic its citizens still have a right to appeal to the king 4,500 miles away in London.
Kartel and his co-defendants had an appeal rejected by Jamaica’s highest court but were entitled to “appeal to His Majesty in council.”
In 1965, capital punishment was abolished by the British Parliament but Jamaica is one of several Caribbean countries which retains the death penalty.
But Kartel and his co-defendants were given life sentences at their trial in 2014 and the singer was given a minimum term of 35 years, of which he has served 10 years.
The original murder trial heard Mr. Williams was murdered after he failed to return two unlicensed guns which Kartel had given him for safekeeping.
Juror Misconduct at the Heart of Appeal
The first was the trial judge’s decision to continue after it emerged Livingstone Caine had attempted to bribe fellow jurors with 500,000 Jamaican dollars (£2,540) each if they acquitted Kartel.Last year Caine was jailed for nine months for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The defence lawyers say the judge erred when, after hearing of the bribery claims during the trial, he decided to press on and did not discharge the jury or the juror who had offered the bribes.
Hugh Southey, KC, counsel for Jones and St. John, told last month’s hearing: “One of the concerns that arises in relation to juries is that ... the longer the poison has been circulating, the harder it is to effectively produce a fair trial.”
He said it was unclear how long the “poison” of Caine’s corrupt influence had been circulating in the jury.
The second strand of the appeal was that the police had broken the law when they seized mobile phones belonging to Kartel, Campbell, and a key witness, Lenard Chow, and compelled phone network Digicel to give them access to messages and call records which became an essential part of the prosecution.
A BlackBerry Torch belonging to Kartel and its SIM card were crucial pieces of evidence which linked him to Mr. Williams’s murder.
The trial judge ruled the telecommunications evidence was admissible.
A third strand was that the trial judge had erred by giving the jury a direction so late in the day.
Jamaica Set to Switch Appeals to Caribbean Court of Justice
The JCPC is unlikely to remain the court of last resort for Jamaica for much longer.In 2005 the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) came into existence and seven years later the-then Jamaican prime minister, Portia Simpson Miller, pledged to make the country a republic and switch from the JCPC to the CCJ.
She said it was time to “end judicial surveillance from London.”
Ms. Simpson Miller’s People’s National Party lost power in 2016 but her successor, Andrew Holness of the right-of-centre Jamaica Labour Party, said in 2022 he intended to make the island a republic by 2025.
If and when that happens Jamaica’s final appeal court would be the CCJ in Trinidad.
