Thu | Mar 28, 2024

Contractor freed of murder charge

Published:Friday | February 21, 2020 | 4:27 PM

Forty-two-year-old contractor Derverton Miller has been freed of the murder of a resident of Hopewell, Hanover who was fatally shot during an altercation in April 2018.

When the case came up for trial in the Westmoreland Circuit Court on Thursday, defence lawyers Peter Champagnie and Richard Lynch argued that Miller should be freed because he acted in self-defence.

The crown offered no evidence against Miller on the basis that it would not be able to mount a viable prosecution based on the accounts given in the statements in the case.

The prosecution also agreed that based on the accounts given, Miller acted in self-defence when he shot the deceased who appeared to have been reaching for a weapon.

Miller had gone to a premises in Hopewell to remove an illegal electricity connection when the incident occurred.

Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us @onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.