NEW ‘TEACHER’ ON THE BLOCK

High Court judge Justice Andrea Thomas put on a near-50-minute master class on Thursday as she ruled that the present incarcerated status of dancehall entertainer Vybz Kartel and two men he was previously convicted with on a murder charge, did not breach the Constitution.

During submissions for the writ of habeas corpus, which started on Wednesday, Justice Thomas promised attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan, who filed on the trio’s behalf, that he and the respondents would be schooled in her judgment.

A writ of habeus corpus is used to determine whether a person’s fundamental right in the Constitution that protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment is being breached.

The case was brought before her after the Privy Council on March 14 quashed the men’s murder convictions.

Kartel, the self-styled ‘Teacher’ whose given name Adidja Palmer, and his then co-accused Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John were convicted in 2014 for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams in 2011.

Williams was allegedly killed after he failed to return two unlicensed guns given to him by Kartel for safekeeping.

Kartel and his co-accused denied any involvement in the killing of Williams.

The Privy Council quashed their murder convictions, citing juror misconduct, and sent the case back to the Court of Appeal for a ruling on whether they should be retried.

Kartel, Campbell, and St John, through Buchanan, argued that the sentencing no longer exists and that the men are no longer viewed as convicts.

The application did not involve the fourth former convict, Jones, who reportedly has another matter before the court.

Buchanan built his submissions on what he said was a gap in the law and said there is nothing in the Constitution or that Parliament has considered that can address that situation.

“We would have to perform some magical sort of construction to say it looks like this or it looks like that … . Feel free to school me on that, M’Lady, because that is why I am before you,” Buchanan invited the judge on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Justice Thomas said she found no lacuna in the law on the issue.

“Additionally, I pause at this juncture to make the point that whereas an application for a writ of habeas corpus should be made in a proper case, it cannot be used to circumvent the correct procedure just to facilitate the desire for a more expeditious outcome,” Justice Thomas said.

The retrial hearing for the four men is set to begin on June 10.

“Essentially, the matter, having been concluded in the Home Circuit Court by a verdict being entered and a sentence being imposed, this court has no jurisdiction to make any order in relation to this matter over which the superior court, that is the Court of Appeal, is now exercising jurisdiction,” the judge said.

She added that at this stage, the only competent court to make any order in relation to this matter is the Court of Appeal.

She also cited that the application is not a proper case for a habeas corpus.

“The proper recourse for the applicants to seek to pursue their request for release that is a verdict of acquittal in the Court of Appeal … . This is not to say this court would not have the jurisdiction in particular circumstances to entertain a habeas corpus application post-conviction and sentence; however, this could arise in circumstances such as the applicant being detained without any justifiable reason having completed serving their sentence,” Justice Thomas said.

The judge added: “Until a verdict of acquittal has been entered, the charge of murder against the applicants remains. As long as the charge remains and in light of the fact they are in custody by virtue of an order of a competent court, it cannot be said that the superintendent of the prison, in refusing to release them, is acting unlawfully.

The High Court judge, on the back end of her written judgment, said she found that the respondents had provided justifiable and lawful reasons for the continued detention of the applicants, while, on the contrary, the applicants had adduced no evidence that could in any way point to them being unlawfully detained.

She then denied the writ of habeas corpus. No order for cost was imposed.

Buchanan then rose to his feet in defeat.

“Grateful, M’Lady. I like the last order … and I thank you for schooling me today. Might I take my leave now?” he asked before almost instantaneously disappearing.

When The Gleaner caught up with him outside, he had no comment.

Meanwhile, the ruling, which was scheduled to begin being handed down at 2 p.m., was not without delay.

A jam-packed courtroom resulted in the matter being relocated to a larger space, the courtroom of Chief Justice Bryan Sykes.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com