Issue over juror visit may not affect Kartel trial

Supreme Court Judge Lennox Campbell yesterday held an inquiry into a report that a juror in the Vybz Kartel murder trial had visited the office of one of the defence lawyers and ruled that it was an innocent interaction and was not likely to affect the trial.

One of the jurors turned up at the office of the attorney over the Christmas break but was quickly turned away. The lawyer brought the matter to the attention of the court.

The jurors were asked to return on Thursday when they will continue to hear evidence at the trial in the Home Circuit Court. The judge said the case would be going non-stop on resumption. The jurors were asked to return yesterday, but the judge advised them that in their absence, the hearing had not been completed. Two witnesses were bound over to return on Thursday.

Yesterday, the defence lawyers, the juror, and the prosecutors went to the judge's chambers, where the inquiry was held. When the parties returned to court, the judge announced that arising from the inquiry, "we are firmly of the view that what transpired was an innocent interaction". The judge said it came out of inadvertence and was not likely to affect "what is going on here". Campbell told the jurors that the warning he gave them each time before an adjournment was of vital importance.