Court Decision Looms: Vybz Kartel and Co-Appellants Await June Verdict on Retrial Possibility

Dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel and his three co-appellants will soon learn if the court will grant them a retrial.

The Court of Appeal issued an update yesterday, revealing that a hearing to determine the possibility of a retrial has been scheduled for June 10 to 15.

According to the court’s directive, the appellants, including Kartel, whose legal name is Adidja Palmer, along with Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John, have been instructed to file and serve skeleton submissions with the relevant authorities by May 6.

Similarly, the respondents are required to file and serve skeleton arguments by May 31.

In preparation for the hearing, the appellants must accompany their skeleton arguments with a written chronology of events pertinent to the appeal, cross-referenced to the record or transcript.

Additionally, they are tasked with agreeing upon and filing a joint chronology of events.

It has been stipulated that four copies of the skeleton arguments and chronology must be filed for the court’s use.

The appellants are seeking to overturn their murder convictions related to the 2011 killing of Clive “Lizard” Williams.

Despite an unsuccessful attempt to have their convictions overturned in 2018 by the Jamaican Court of Appeal, they pursued the matter further to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council.

Last month, the Privy Council made a significant ruling, quashing the convictions due to juror misconduct and remanding the case back to the Jamaican court for consideration of a retrial.

In light of this decision, the legal team representing the four men has emphasised the challenges associated with a retrial and has expressed intentions to seek bail.

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