Jamaican Court of Appeal orders release of Vybz Kartel after years behind bars

The Jamaica Court of Appeal ordered Vybz Kartel and his three codefendants to be freed after the ailing dancehall star spent years behind bars.

In a unanimous decision Wednesday, the court decided against a retrial in the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams, whose body was never found.

The stunning decision means that Vybz Kartel, Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John will be released after years behind bars.

“We conclude that the interest of justice does not require a new trial to be ordered,” the court read.

The court said Wednesday, that there was sufficient evidence to suggest that Kartel would not be able to complete a potentially longer sentence if there were to be a retrial.

The court cited the “psychological and financial effects that it would have on the appellants,” referring to Kartel’s health.

Vybz Kartel, formally known as Adidja Palmer – and his three co-defendants have been behind bars in a Jamaican prison since their arrests in 2011, and subsequent 2014 conviction, for the murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams, whose body was never found.

Appeals court overturns Vybz Kartel’s murder conviction

The conviction came from a mostly circumstantial case based on video and phone records from his BlackBerry Torch and a discredited witness.

Throughout the years, he’s proclaimed his innocence and fought to have the conviction thrown out.

Kartel’s conviction was quashed this spring, and the British Privy Council gave the Jamaican court the chance to decide on a retrial or outright acquittal, meaning there would be no further prosecution.

For most of his time in prison, Kartel had reportedly been battling Graves’ Disease under conditions his attorney says are “inhumane.”

Lawyers representing the defendants made an appeal back in 2020, but the convictions were upheld.

The appeal was then pushed to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, Jamaica’s final court of appeal, in February 2024, which overturned the convictions due to juror misconduct.

Despite the big win, their fight for freedom has hung in the balance. The Privy Council, in effect, kicked the case back to the Jamaican Court of Appeals to make the ultimate decision.

Source: fox5ny.com