Vybz Kartel freed after 13 years in prison

JAMAICAN dancehall singer Adijah "Vybz Kartel" Palmer has been freed after almost 13 years in jail.

Jamaica’s Court of Appeal ruled that Palmer and his three co-accused – Shawn "Shawn Storm" Campbell, Andre St John and Kahira Jones – should not be retried for murder.

The quartet was charged in September 2011 and convicted in March 2014 of murdering Clive "Lizard" Williams. They were sentenced to life in prison in April 2014.

They appealed the conviction in Jamaica’s Court of Appeal, where they lost, before taking the matter to the Privy Council, which quashed their convictions in March.

The Privy Council ruled that juror misconduct entitled them to a retrial after a juror admitted to accepting a bribe to try to influence other jurors in the case.

However, it said the retrial was a matter for Jamaica’s Court of Appeal to determine.

Delivering the judgment, president of the Court of Appeal Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop said the ruling was unanimous as neither she nor justices Paulette Williams and David Fraser supported a retrial, after weighing the considerations.

“We conclude that the interests of justice do not require a new trial to be ordered for the appellant. We therefore make the following judgments and verdicts of acquittal are entered in relation to the appellants.”

Jones will not be freed, as he is also serving a sentence in an unrelated case.