The Jamaica Court of Appeals is gearing up to weigh in on the case of Vybz Kartel and his co-accused in the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. Starting June 10, the court will dive into arguments to decide whether a retrial is warranted. This judicial process is slated to span five days.
The decision to proceed with the hearing was announced by Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop on Friday, accompanied by specific guidelines:
- The hearing concerning whether a re-trial should be ordered is to be fixed for 10 June 2024 for five days.
- The appellants are to file and serve skeleton submissions with authorities on or before May 6, 2024.
- The respondent is to file and serve skeleton arguments with authorities on or before 31st May 2024.
- The appellants’ skeleton arguments must be accompanied by a written chronology of events relevant to the appeal and cross-referenced to the record or transcript. The appellants are to agree and file one joint chronology of events.
- Four copies of the parties’ skeleton arguments and chronology must be filed for the use of the court.
Last month, the imprisoned dancehall artist and his three co-accused: Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John, had their 2014 life sentences quashed by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council on the basis of jury tampering.
The four men were sentenced to life in prison for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams. Their first appeal, to the Court of Appeal in Jamaica, was dismissed in 2020.
In its judgment, the Privy Council ordered that the case be returned to Jamaica’s Appeal Court to decide whether to order a retrial for Vybz Kartel and the three men or set them free.
“The judicial committee of the Privy Council has unanimously concluded that the appeals should be allowed and the appellants’ convictions should be quashed on the grounds of juror misconduct and that the case should be remitted to the Court of Appeal to decide whether to order a retrial of the appellants for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams,” the Privy Council stated.
