Vybz Kartel Conviction Overturned: Did the Privy Council Get it Right?

A decade after being convicted for murder and sentenced to 32 years in prison, Jamaican dancehall star, Vybz Kartel, won an appeal from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London that overturned the conviction. The Privy Council is the court of last resort for some countries in Britain’s  Commonwealth of Nations, including Jamaica. The ruling means that the case will be returned to Jamaica’s  Court of Appeal for a decision on whether Kartel will be retried on the same accusations. Kartel and his co-defendants –  Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John – will remain in prison until that decision has been made.

Why the Privy Council made this ruling

In 2014, Vybz Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, and his three co-defendants were convicted in Kingston, Jamaica, for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams, an associate whose body has never been found. After reviewing the case, the appeals court ruled that the judge in charge of the trial made a “fatal” error by permitting the jury to come to a verdict despite information that one of the jurors had tried to bribe other jury members. That juror was not removed, and the jury went on to issue its guilty verdict. According to the Privy Council, the court should have removed the juror who attempted the bribes and that allowing that juror’s continued service on the jury was “fatal to the safety of the convictions which followed.” The Privy Council ruling added that it also constituted “an infringement of the defendants’ fundamental right to a fair hearing by an independent and impartial court.”

Details of the appeal

Kartel, 48, and three others were convicted in 2014 after a trial that lasted 65 days, the longest trial in Jamaica’s history. In the trial, prosecutors alleged that the defendants had lured Williams to Kartel’s home, then attacked and killed him over some missing guns. Imprisoned since 2011, Kartel received a life sentence and was required to serve at least 35 years. On appeal, that sentence was reduced to 32.5 years. In February 2024, Kartel and his co-defendants made their final appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London where their attorneys argued that the judge in the original trial had mishandled allegations that a person on the jury had offered J$500,000 (£2,500; $3,200) to other jury members if they returned verdicts of “not guilty.”  On March 14, 2024, the Privy Council found in favor of Kartel and the other defendants and overturned the original court conviction.

Privy Council displays some sympathy for the original court

The Privy Council showed some sympathy for the judge in the original trial who learned on its final day that the juror had made the bribery attempt because he then faced a difficult choice. Since another juror had already been discharged for a separate matter, his only choice was to completely end the trial after weeks of testimony or allow the case to move on to a verdict. The appeals court noted that it might have been possible to remove the offending juror and allow the remaining members to return verdicts, but that was not possible in this case, and while the appeals court noted its “considerable sympathy” for the judge’s dilemma, it ruled that the decision to proceed with that juror was a “serious irregularity” that would result in a “miscarriage of justice” if allowed to stand. While England has statutes that provide for dealing with situations in which jurors must be discharged right before the end of long and complicated trials, Jamaica has no such provisions. In such cases in Jamaica, a court has no choice other than to discharge the jury and end the trial in order to protect the integrity of the entire trial-by-jury system.

Responses to the Privy Council ruling

In spite of his murder conviction, Kartel remains one the most popular and beloved dancehall artists in Jamaica. He maintained his innocence of the crime throughout his imprisonment, noting that much of his conviction depended on circumstantial evidence. In response to the Privy Council’s ruling, Kartel celebrated with fans on social media by posting, “Victorious!!!! @isatbuchanan Anytime now! #quashed #Bussoff #238 #privycouncil” on Instagram. Fellow dancehall artist, Grace “Spice” Hamilton, commented, ““FREE WORLD [earth emoji] [five fire emoji] FLY THE GATE… Buss offffffffff #quashed” on one of Kartel’s posts, while a fan noted, “HISTORY was made today!”