KINGSTON, Jamaica— Defence attorney Isat Buchanan says he is confident about the outcome of the Vybz Kartel retrial hearing which concluded on Tuesday.

While speaking with reporters at the end of day six of the hearing, Buchanan reiterated the stance of the defence team that there was a breach of the appellants’ right to a fair trial, and the hearing is to determine whether the court can order a retrial in the circumstances.

He said the defence is of the opinion that there should be no retrial and they have submitted evidence in the form of documents why this should be the ruling of the court.

“Certainly for the defence we would have presented affidavit evidence which was a plethora of documents. As you can see it went over into day six and even at the end of day six there were so many documents that the court was inundated with that they now have to go through,” Buchanan said.

He added that considering the mountain of evidence presented by the defence and the prosecution and the fact that the case is a high public interest matter, the court has to give a written judgment which will outline the reason for the decision the court takes.

“I just wish to make clear that because of this, it is one of the reasons why the court now has to go through the information and have a written judgment because this is a high public interest matter and so the explanations coming from the court would be of great value,” he told reporters.

Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop said on Tuesday that the decision on whether or not to retry Vybz Kartel and his co-accused will come no later than July when the court term is scheduled to end.

In the meantime, Buchanan, who represents Kartel, said his client is anxious to learn his fate.

“Certainly in terms of the progress of the case the client is anxious. There’s not much you can tell a man who wants to get out of jail as to why it is being delayed or anything like that. It is a continuing breach and that is where it is. I have no comforting words for my client save to say that the court has made it clear that they are mindful of Mr Palmer’s illness, they are mindful of the length and that certainly they have given a time, as in the maximum time that they will be able to write the judgment and be able to hand it down,” he said.

Vybz Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer; Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones; and Andre St John were convicted of the September 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

Lawyers representing the quartet made an appeal to the local Court of Appeal in 2020 but their convictions were upheld.

The accused appeal was then taken to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council and on March 14, 2024, had their murder convictions overturned on the grounds of juror misconduct.

The Privy Council had also remitted the case back to the Jamaica Court of Appeal to decide whether or not there should be a retrial.