Prosecution suggests possible retrial of Kartel case could take place in 2025

The prosecution has suggested that a potential murder retrial of Vybz Kartel and his three co-accused could take place as early as 2025, despite uncertainties with the court schedule.

Acting DPP Claudette Thompson says the case could be accommodated in the Hilary court term (January 2025 - April 2025). She says the Supreme Court has a system that prioritises certain cases for reasons such as the age of the matter. 

The Court of Appeal judges hearing the case have raised doubts about the suggested timeframe but said they would await a report on how retrial cases are handled. 

Meanwhile, the acting DPP says costs to the government should not prevent the Court of Appeal from ordering that Vybz Kartel and his co-accused be retried for murder.

Thompson says a retrial is justified because the case involves an alleged murder, an illegal gun being the reason for the crime, the victim's body never being found, and attempts to destroy the crime scene. 

"The state will just have to bear the cost," Thompson says. 

Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop, who is leading a panel of three judges, says the court will have to consider whether the Government's budget can handle additional costs from a potential retrial. 

McDonald-Bishop says the prosecution's "biggest challenge" on the question of retrial for Vyz Kartel is not about the evidence against the accused. The judge says Privy Council did not return the case based on evidence issues. She made the comments while urging Acting DPP Claudette Thompson to present on the availability of witnesses. 

McDonald-Bishop says the Court of Appeal "will not be sending any case again to Supreme Court to sit and wait until witnesses are found". 

"This is the first case that's gonna test the retrial process properly," the judge says.

Meanwhile, McDonald-Bishop says the Court of Appeal has decided to accept all documents filed by the defence and the prosecution in the hearing.

She says the court will decide how to treat them during its deliberations. 

The decision settles the question of the status of an expert report by IT consultant Shawn Wenzel filed by the defence. The judge reminded that the hearing is not to determine guilt or innocence. 

Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, Shaw 'Shawn Storm' Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were all handed life sentences in April 2014 for the 2011 murder of Clive 'Lizard' Williams. 

The Court of Appeal upheld their convictions in 2020.

However, on March 14, 2024, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council, Jamaica's final court of appeal, overturned the convictions on the grounds of juror misconduct.

It said the trial judge should have dismissed tainted juror Livingston Cain, who was later found guilty of accepting a bribe to try to influence the panel. 

However, the Privy Council did not free the men.

It ordered that the Court of Appeal should decide whether there should be a retrial.

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