Adidja Palmer and Shawn Campbell - Gleaner file photo
.png)
00:00
00:00
00:00
Attorney Bert Samuels and DPP Paula Llewellyn
By Kimone Witter
Incarcerated dancehall entertainer Vybz Kartel and his three co-convicts will know their fate next week Thursday when UK Privy Council judges will deliver their judgment in the murder appeal case.
A notice on the UK Privy Council website on Friday indicated that the judgment will be delivered on March 14 at 11 a.m. Jamaica time and will be livestreamed.
The ruling will come almost 10 years to the day that Kartel and his co-convicts were found guilty.
During the appeal hearing, held over two days from February 14, the Law Lords raised questions around the judge's decision to continue the trial after it was revealed that a member of the jury pool had offered a bribe to the foreman to swing the verdict in favour of Kartel.
It is expected to be the main issue influencing their decision.
One senior legal expert told Radio Jamaica News he expects the Privy Council to order a retrial.
The appellants are represented by a nine-member team.
One of the defence attorneys, Bert Samuels, said while the verdict was not expected for another two months, he believes last year's successful application to the UK court for an expedited hearing in the matter, may have contributed to the quick turnaround time for a decision. The petition for an expedited hearing was made due to concerns about Vybz Kartel's health.
"We seem to have forgotten that the expedited hearing is still being carried through, and it seems to - and I am just making an intelligent guess here - that we've had a decision in one month rather than the usual three to four months because we are under the expedited hearing grant that we have."
Mr. Samuels said the defence team is pleased that a verdict will soon be forthcoming.
He is hoping for an acquittal, but admitted the case could end with the ordering of a retrial or the team losing the appeal, which he quipped was "not on [his] books at all".
Adidja Palmer, Shawn Campbell, also known as "Shawn Storm", Kahira Jones, and Andre "Mad Suss" St. John were convicted on March 13, 2014 for the murder of Clive "Lizard" Williams.
They were all sentenced to life in prison.
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn said she will not offer a comment on next week's delivery of a verdict in the Vybz Kartel appeal case.
Speaking Friday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, Ms. Llewellyn reiterated that the prosecution did the best with the material that was available.
All feeds
