John Clarke, attorney representing Kahira Jones, (foreground) and Isat Buchanan, attorney representing Adidja ‘Vybz Kartel’ Palmer, leaving court on the second day of hearings to decide on a potential retrial for Palmer, Jones and two other co-accused on June 11, 2024. Image: Ricardo Brooks/Nationwide News Network.
One of the attorneys representing Vybz Kartel and his three co-accused has urged the Court of Appeal to carefully consider how the recall of potential witnesses in the murder trial, may be affected by the length of time that has elapsed since the original case against the men ended in 2014.
John Clarke raised the issue on day two of the retrial hearing on Tuesday.
Mahiri Stewart reports.
Clarke, who represents Kahira Jones, asked the three-judge panel to consider how the matter of witness availability would jeopardise the ability of Adidja Palmer, Shawn Campbell, Andre St. John, and his client to receive a fair retrial.
The men’s attorneys are urging the court to set them free in the interest of justice.
Clarke told the judges that witnesses may be unavailable, their memories may have become hazy, or they may be dead. He says such a possibility makes it undesirable to subject the men to a retrial.
John Clarke also warned that witnesses who have already testified and who now know what other witnesses said in 2014 may be influenced one way or another.
The attorney says the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has a burden to prove why, after the Privy Council had already explicitly said the men’s right to a fair trial was breached, they should be subjected to another trial, where there is a risk of similar breaches re-occurring.
He says the prosecution has to justify why such a situation would be desirable.
Clarke maintained that the current justice system would likely subject the men to another unfair trial. He says the Constitution permits the men to approach the court where they believe their rights are likely to be breached.
He also reminded the judges that the Charter of Rights and Freedom had shifted the burden from the citizen to prove that their rights were breached to the State to explain why the breach was demonstrably justified in a democratic society.
Clarke will conclude his arguments this morning at 9:30.
The prosecution is expected to open its case for a retrial today. The team is being led by Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Claudette Thompson.
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