WATCH: Vybz Kartel walks free from prison after 13 years
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel is now a free man after 13 years in prison.
The entertainer walked free from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in downtown Kingston on Wednesday evening, after the Court of Appeal ruled against retrying him and his co-accused for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.
In 2014, Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer; Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones; and Andre St John were convicted of the September 2011 murder of Williams.
READ: Kartel freed!
Lawyers representing the quartet had made an appeal to the local Court of Appeal in 2020, but their convictions were upheld.
Entertainer Adidja “Vybz Kartel” Palmer with his girlfriend following his release from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo: Karl McLarty)
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.
