Gang accused were behind bars when some murders happened

State records pertaining to the arrest and detention of three defendants in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial have shown that they were, in fact, in jail during the periods in which they are accused of committing various murders.

The trio, Tareek James, Pete Miller, and Donavan Richards, had requested records from the Spanish Town Police Station and the Horizon Adult Remand Centre to prove that they were, in fact, in custody. Those records, which were agreed by their lawyers and the Crown as facts, were read into evidence on Monday when the trial resumed in the Home Circuit Court.

In James’ case, the court heard that he was first detained at the Spanish Town Police Station on November 7, 2017, and remained in custody to date.

Based on the evidence presented, James would have been in custody during the November 15, 2017, murder of a bus driver. He had been accused of committing that crime along with Bryan and other defendants.

It, however, does not absolve him from the September 9, 2017, arson and double murder of a couple at New Nursery Fisheries in St Catherine.

In the case of Richards, the court heard that he was first taken into custody at the Spanish Town Police Station on July 5, 2017, and was released from Horizon on June 3, 2019, but rearrested on June 3, 2019. He has been in custody since.

Richards was charged along with Bryan and others for the August 2017 murder of a man at Chancery Street in St Andrew, but the Crown had conceded that it only had a case against Bryan.

While Miller was taken into custody on November 20, 2012, at Horizon and was released on August 11, 2017, he was rearrested on September 2018 and has been in custody since.

He is accused of taking part in the murder of two men at a basketball field in Rivoli, Spanish Town, St Catherine, between March 10 and 15, 2017.

The information also proved that defendant Kalifa Williams was also in custody when the Crown is alleging he had committed a murder with the gang.

The court heard that he has been in custody since January 16, 2017.

His lawyers, Abina Morrison and Patrice Riley, are contending that he was not a member of the gang and had been in prison since 2017.

Williams was also charged with a 2015 murder but that count was abandoned by the Crown.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes found that the prosecution had not provided sufficient evidence to implicate Williams in the murder of a man at a tyre shop along the Spanish Town Bypass in St Catherine on November 2, 2017.

Williams, Miller, and Richards closed their case on Monday.

But James, who is implicated in the November 2, 2017, murder of a St Catherine man, is seeking to establish that he is not guilty.

A police sergeant has been subpoenaed to give evidence on Tuesday that another person was charged for Outlaw’s murder and that that person is already before the court.

Two former members of the gang had testified that Bryan had instructed James to carry out the instruction and that the reputed leader had enjoyed a bellyful of laughter when he was told that the hit was successful.

The court had also heard that James had told Blackman that he pumped eight gunshots into the man and that “all a dem connect”.

The 28 remaining defendants in the trial are being tried on an indictment with 14 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act. Initially, 33 defendants were indicted but five were freed.