Vybz Kartel, co-accused can get fair retrial despite publicity, jury concerns — prosecutor
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Prosecutor Janek Forbes says that once employed correctly, the safeguard systems in the Jamaican court system can ensure a fair retrial for Vybz Kartel and his co-accused.
Forbes was addressing a judge panel consisting of justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, Paulette Williams and David Fraser in the Court of Appeal.
Making his point, Forbes said one of such safeguards included holding the jurors and giving directives to them at appropriate intervals during the retrial.
“They can be given at the start, at the end of each day, they can be well timed…” Forbes explained.
Forbes also argued that despite the widespread publicity around the case, the Crown believes the accused could still get a fair retrial.
McDonald-Bishop, however, expressed her doubts.
“I have a very real concern and I am just going to lay it on the table, you have to help us with it. You have to explain it…People heard voices…saw images,” she told the court as she questioned how evidence including voice notes and videos reached the public domain before an appeal decision was handed down.
On Wednesday, defence lawyer John Clarke told the Court of Appeal that none of the common law safeguards were deployed to ensure a new trial would not be affected by the publicity surrounding the quashing of the 2014 conviction by the Privy Council.
Clarke said that with the damaging effect of the post-trial coverage, the appellants should not be condemned to undergo the ordeal of a retrial because of the state’s failure to adhere to the Interception of Communications Act.
READ: Clarke highlights publicity concerns in closing arguments against Kartel retrial
However, Forbes argued that the safeguards in Jamaica’s court system could still guarantee a fair retrial.
Kartel, Shawn Storm, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John 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.
The retrial hearing is expected to end on Friday.
— Kelsey Thomas
