Vybz Kartel Retrial Hearing | Day 6: Adverse publicity not enough to argue against retrial but Kartel case is 'special' - defence lawyer

Defence attorney John Clarke has accepted that "mere publicity, even adverse publicity" is not enough to convince the Court of Appeal to rule against a murder retrial for Vybz Kartel and his co-accused.

He said the issue for the defence is that there is significant prejudice in relation to the content of the initial trial and "the link" assumed in the public domain between the jury tampering and the accused men.

The Privy Council, which overturned the convictions from the initial trial, said there was no evidence to link the men to the jury tampering.

Clarke argued that there are "special circumstances" in the Kartel case such as the presence of key evidence in the public domain.

He said there is no safeguard in place to address those issues and it will be difficult to find an impartial jury. 

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