VYBZ KARTEL TRIAL
Today February 15th 2024 the final hearing Appeal of Vybz Kartel and his three co-accused is ongoing live and entered in the second half.
Thousands are currently logged in in the various live streams available over the internet of the final part of the hearing.
The arguments of yesterday conversations were dominated by the jury tampering issue, revolving around whether the judge was obliged to dismiss the jury and, if not, whether his actions to manage the situation were sufficient.
Vybz Kartel’s main attorney, Isat Buchanan, argued in yesterday afternoon session that juror Livingston Caine — who was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice by offering a JMD $500,000 bribe to the jury forewoman in Kartel’s case — should not have been allowed to continue as he was tainted and that knowledge of the offer of the bribe might have influenced the other jurors to return a guilty verdict.
Vybz Kartel UK Privy Council Appeal Afternoon Session Live
The debate has been going on for various hours in the morning and afternoon session and when Buchanan finally exposed the his defense stance he did not only asked for a Vybz Kartel’s and co- accused re-trial, he is also asked that the conviction of Vybz Kartel and his co-appellants to be squashed, saying:
“There is no cure, no provison, or no thought of a retrial or a second bite of the apple where the unfair trial right was breached in manner that it did,”
“In relation to the jury, there has never been in modern common law where a juror we know for a fact is poisoned, is tainted, was allowed to remain on a jury, to bring a verdict, simply because the legislation would have prevented him from being discharged where it is clear, on its face, that that juror ought to have been moved to protect the fair trial right,” Buchanan exposed to the UK Supreme Court.
In Jamaican legislation, “the judge is conferred with the authority to discharge a juror who becomes ill or is incapacitated as long as the jurors don’t go below 11 when murder is involved, then the verdict will be considered unanimous”.
Buchanan argued that the sum total of the breaches constituted a serious breaking of the appellants’ human rights, arguing that “all state actors have a duty not to abridge or abrogate the rights of the individual, and if it is done, you must show it is demonstrably justifiable. What is significant is that the test, which is that the demonstrably justifiable test, is mandatory once there is a breach, and before us now, there was a breach,” he said.
The prosecutor, King’s Council Peter Knox, argued against that, affirming that “one bad apple” should not lead to a dismissal of the entire jury. Under local laws, Caine’s dismissal would have meant the trial could not continue, as there would be only 10 jurors remaining following the earlier discharge of a female juror. “What is a judge to do? Defendants can’t derail trials just by making bribes to juries,” Knox replied.
While an adjournment and continuation of Vybz Kartel, Shawn Storm, Andre St John and Kahira Jones will continue and reach the final phase today Thursday February 15th, the first part of the hearing concluded yesterday at 4:04 p.m. UK time or 11:04 a.m. local time, and will continue on Thursday (February 15 today).
Trending all over the world, with thousands of people watching and commenting on the live chat and Kartel himself posting on his own IG account a video snippet of his attorney speech, trending now is also the #preeLordReed for hammering the prosecution and pushing this conclusion :
“If jurors thought that an attempt was being made to bribe them on behalf of the defendants then it might have inclined them to dig their heels and prejudiced them against the defendant,” Lord Reed remarked.
In the meantime, Dancehall fans from all over the world are starting speculating FREEDOM IS SOON COMING for the Gaza General Vybz Kartel.
