KINGSTON, Jamaica- Vybz Kartel could be released from prison in a matter of hours following the Court of Appeal’s ruling on Wednesday against retrying the entertainer and his co-accused for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.

READ: KARTEL FREED!

Kartel’s lawyer Isat Buchanan told Observer Online following the ruling that the entertainer’s release was imminent.

“The order is that the men are free and the question is ‘why are they not out?’ and we are going to attend to that right now,” Buchanan said.

According to noted attorney Christopher Townsend, Kartel’s release will be dependent on how quickly he will be processed out of custody.

“As of the court’s pronouncement he is free. The question now is how long before it is that he will be released. That has to do with the processing of the free man from out of custody, but as of this moment he is a free man,” Townsend said.

When pressed further whether Kartel and his co-accused could be in their homes and with families by Thursday, the attorney reiterated that it has to do with the administrative procedure of the prison.

“It depends on the bureaucracy that is there. These things, sometimes, unfortunately, take time and it really shouldn’t but unfortunately it does,” Townsend added.

Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer is being housed at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston.

In 2014, Kartel, Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones; and Andre St John were convicted of the September 2011 murder of Williams.

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

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

The Privy Council also remitted the case back to the Jamaica Court of Appeal to decide whether there should be a retrial.

-Vanessa James