Adidja 'Vybz Kartel' Palmer
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By Racquel Porter
Twelve days before the Court of Appeal is to begin hearing arguments to determine whether entertainer Vybz Kartel and his co-accused should be retried for murder, attorneys for the men will be seeking to have them released.
The habeas corpus application, which started before the Supreme Court on Monday morning, is to continue over two days starting on May 29.
Attorneys representing Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, Shawn 'Shawn Storm' Campbell, and Andre 'Mad Suss' St. John filed the application almost two months after the Privy Council overturned their murder conviction.
Kartel's attorney Isat Buchanan says since March 14, Kartel and his co-accused have been in suspension.
Mr. Buchanan says for this reason, the attorneys filed the application seeking their release.
"It's a lacuna in the law where you're not convicted, you're not charged, but you're held in abeyance. I think in terms of where the law is that the legislators would have needed to make certain amendments to account for a situation where conviction is quashed but the matter is not yet before the court," he suggested.
But during Monday's proceedings, Mr. Buchanan said the application was brought before the court because of issues that the defence does not wish to disclose.
The court was told that the Director of Public Prosecutions was not served with a copy of the application.
But Justice Andrea Thomas ordered that the application should be served Monday.
Justice Thomas also ordered that the application be amended by Tuesday to include the Director of Public Prosecutions as an interested party.
The Office of the DPP is to respond on or before May 20.
Kartel and his co-accused are being held at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre.
They along with Kahira Jones were convicted on March 13, 2014 for the murder of Clive 'Lizard' Williams, but the conviction was recently overturned by the Privy Council.
Mr. Jones has another matter before the court.
Clive Williams was allegedly killed after he failed to return two unlicensed guns given to him by Kartel for safekeeping.
The hearing in the Court of Appeal to determine whether or not there should be a retrial of the case is set for June 10.
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