VALERIE Neita-Robertson, KC, says she will be appealing Tuesday’s guilty verdict handed down to her client Livingston Cain, the juror in the Vybz Kartel murder trial who was accused of offering $500,000 to the jury foreman to influence other jurors to return a not guilty verdict.

He was found guilty in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court of perverting the course of justice after being accused of offering the money to a female juror in the case which was brought against dancehall artiste Vybz Kartel. Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, was eventually found guilty along with Shawn Campbell, Kahiro Jones, and Andre St John for killing Clive “Lizard” Williams at a house in Havendale, St Andrew, in August 2011.

Cain enjoyed bail for eight years but had it revoked by trial Judge Maxine Ellis on Tuesday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, which means that he will spend Christmas in jail.

He will be sentenced on March 2, 2023.

Parish Judge Maxine Ellis insisted on November 22 that it was about time a verdict was arrived at, indicating that she had no wish to have the trial stretched beyond 2022.

“I would prefer finishing this matter in this calendar year so I don’t have to mark another anniversary. I have now set the matter for summation. All things being equal, this matter is going to be completed on December 13,” Ellis said on November 22.

Neita Robertson raised a number of issues in court, questioning why the matter hadn’t been thrown out long ago and citing numerous holes in the case.

She claimed that her client is in this position because he indicated that he would return a not guilty verdict and suggested that other jurors do the same. It is on this basis she believes a case was cooked up against him.

“She alleges that he offered to give her $500,000 to return a verdict of not guilty. She did a first recording of a conversation between them, which wasn’t clear. There was a conversation and she interprets it by saying, ‘So you want me to influence them fi leggo di man dem and den wi talk? Mi nuh understand da piece deh.’ All of this is coming from her. Based on the recording that was not clear, she went back to Mr Cain and renewed the conversation. She said, ‘What is in it for me, Mr Cain? Weh you ago get $500,000 from and you always say you nuh have no money?’, all of what would amount to corroboration.”

The lawyer insisted that credibility was the main issue and that the Crown failed to discharge its verdict in respect of the material aspects of its case.