JAMAICA: Vybz Kartel murder conviction quashed by Privy Council

Jamaican dancehall artiste, Adijah ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer, as well as his three co-convicts, have won their appeal of the 2014 murder conviction.

The Privy Council, on March 14, 2024, quashed the conviction and the sentence ten years after Palmer along with Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were found guilty of the 2011 killing of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

Williams was allegedly killed after he failed to return two unlicensed guns given to him by Kartel for safekeeping. Kartel was handed a sentence of 35 years before being eligible for parole, while Campbell was to serve 25 years before parole eligibility. St John and Jones were both ordered to serve 30 and 25 years, respectively, before they are eligible for parole.

The Judicial Committee of the UK Privy Council overturned the ruling on the grounds of jury misconduct. They decided that it was unsafe to allow a tainted juror to remain on the jury which decided the men’s fate.

Counsel for the appellants argued that Justice Lennox Campbell should have dismissed the tainted juror who was later convicted of attempting to bribe a fellow juror.

The case is to be remitted to the Jamaican Court of Appeal to decide whether there will be a retrial in the matter.

Source: Jamaica Gleaner