KINGSTON, Jamaica — Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop has warned defence lawyer Isat Buchanan against straying from his point as the retrial hearing of Vybz Kartel and his co-accused got underway Wednesday morning.

McDonald-Bishop interrupted Buchanan as he opened his presentation by stating, “I am lost.”

“Remember this is your last day. Use it wisely…stick to your point,” she warned.

Buchanan is arguing against a retrial for Kartel, Shawn Storm, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John who were charged with the September 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

The Court of Appeal upheld their convictions in 2020. However, on March 14, 2024, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, Jamaica’s final court of appeal, overturned the convictions on the grounds of juror misconduct and ordered the Court of Appeal to decide whether or not there should be a retrial.

Buchanan in his opening statement highlighted the importance of context in the case.

“The starting point for me is to say context matters,” he told the court.

“The constitution is supreme for us so that questions that any of the rights alleged by the appellants to have been breached…must be viewed in this context,” Buchanan explained.

The hearing which started on Monday is expected to last for five days.

McDonald-Bishop, along with Justices Paulette Williams and David Fraser will decide the case.

— Kelsey Thomas