The Court of Appeal will start hearing arguments tomorrow to determine whether entertainer Vybz Kartel and three other men should be retried for the alleged murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams in 2011. The three judges who will rule on the matter are Justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, Paulette Williams, and David Fraser.
The hearing is set to start at 9:30 a.m. and is expected to last for five days.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is pushing for a retrial.
Among the considerations for a retrial are; the availability of witnesses; any prejudice to the accused; the interest of justice and what is in the public inteDancehall star Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer; Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones, and Andre St John were charged with murder in 2011.
Kartel and St John are being represented by attorney Isat Buchanan; Jones by John Clarke and Campbell by Bert Samuels.
The four men were convicted in March 2014 for Williams’ murder and sentenced to life in prison a month later.
The Court of Appeal upheld their convictions in 2020.
However, on March 14, 2024, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, Jamaica’s final court of appeal, overturned the convictions on the grounds of juror misconduct.
It said the trial judge should have dismissed tainted juror Livingston Cain, who was later found guilty of accepting a bribe to try to influence the panel.
However, the Privy Council did not free the men rest.
It ordered that the Court of Appeal should decide whether there should be a retrial.
On May 30, the Supreme Court rejected an application by Kartel and two of his co-accused to be released from prison pending the decision on the retrial.
Kartel and his co-accused have denied any involvement in the killing of Williams.
