Everton “Beachy Stout” McDonald and co-accused Oscar Barnes were freed of their conspiracy to commit murder charge after a no case submission in the Home Circuit Court on Monday.

The ruling was handed down by trial Judge, Chester Stamp.

At the same time, Stamp ruled that both men have a case to answer as it relates to murder, stemming from the July 20, 2020 killing of Tonia McDonald, who was the second wife of McDonald, a popular Portland businessman.

The ruling was handed down outside the presence of the seven-member jury which began to hear the case in September last year, when the trial started. The media was also not allowed to sit in on Monday’s session in court.

Both McDonald and Barnes were charged in 2020 with murder and conspiracy to murder.

Reliable sources informed the Jamaica Observer on Monday that Stamp threw out the conspiracy charge after he was satisfied that McDonald and Barnes did not conspire with each other to kill Tonia.

However, both men will be back in court on Tuesday, to have the jury deal specifically with the matter of murder.

McDonald and Barnes were implicated in the killing of Tonia after a man by the name of Denvalyn “Bubbla” Minott claimed to police that McDonald hired him for $3 million to kill Tonia. He further claimed that he did not kill Tonia himself but, instead, subcontracted the murder to Barnes who has maintained that he is not guilty of the crime.
McDonald has also maintained his innocence.

Minott pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to 19 years and 10 months in prison after confessing to being the contractor in the killing.

In the case of Barnes, a detective sergeant who was the lead investigator in the matter admitted in his testimony that Barnes was only arrested based on the fact that Minott pointed him out during a “drive through” session with the police, claiming that he was the one responsible for killing Tonia.

Barnes was never taken on an identification parade and, based on the detective sergeant’s testimony, there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. Cops searched two houses that Barnes is connected to and found no bloody knife or anything else to incriminate him.

His motor vehicle, which is still in the custody of the police, was confiscated in 2020 and swabbed for possible evidence, but none presented itself to cops.

McDonald insisted that he did not kill his wife, who he allegedly accused of entertaining multiple men during their marriage.

The murder convict, Minott, claimed during his evidence in court last year that he had a sexual relationship with the businessman’s wife. According to Minott, the sexual relationship started when McDonald allegedly gave him the green light to develop a close relationship with Tonia, to get her more comfortable so the murder could go through smoothly.

The case continues on Tuesday morning, when character witnesses are expected to appear in court to vouch for both McDonald and Barnes.