#Socialites, get a load of this! Jamaican Dancehall legend Vybz Kartel has been denied bail, with his murder charge still remaining, despite winning his appeal and having his conviction overturned in March.
RELATED: Prayers: Vybz Kartel Suffering From Graves’ Disease And Heart Conditions, Lawyer Says
As we previously shared on March 14, Vybz Kartel, born Adidja Palmer, successfully won his appeal and overturned his murder conviction after being sentenced to life in prison in 2014 for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.
The Dancehall icon was convicted alongside Shawn “Shawn Storm” Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John. During the murder trial, it was reported that a juror allegedly attempted to bribe other members by offering them $500,000 JMD to sway the outcome of the case. The U.K.’s Privy Council reported that despite the allegations, the trial would carry on, resulting in the conviction of Vybz Kartel and his co-defendants.
At the time, FOX 5 NY‘s Lisa Evers reported that the United Kingdom’s Privy Council appealed the Jamaican rapper’s conviction, sending his case to a lower court to decide whether or not he would be retried for murder. The Dancehall icon was set to appear next in a court of appeals in Jamaica. During the March hearing, the council ruled that Kartel and two out of three co-defendants’ convictions should be overturned on the grounds of juror misconduct.
The council’s statement read, “The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has concluded that the appeals should be allowed and the appellants’ convictions should be quashed on the ground of juror misconduct and that the case should be remitted to the Court of Appeal of Jamaica to decide whether to order a retrial of the appellants for the murder of the deceased.”
For years, Kartel has maintained his innocence. His overturned murder conviction arrived after the icon spent more than a decade behind bars, and after being diagnosed with Graves disease and a heart condition, which was made public in May 2023. Kartel’s conviction is said to have arrived mostly on circumstantial evidence including video and phone records from his BlackBerry Torch and a discredited witness.
Two months after his overturned conviction, Vybz Kartel and two of his three co-defendants have been denied bail and will remain behind bars with their murder charges intact. According to the Jamaica Observer, on Thursday (May 30), a Kingston, Jamaica judge rejected the habeas corpus application submitted for the three men by the Dancehall icon’s attorneys. The fourth defendant Kahira Jones, who is reportedly facing another charge, was not included in the application, so no order was made regarding Jones’ status.
Supreme Court Justice Andrea Thomas ruled that in the absence of a verdict of acquittal by the Privy Council, the murder charge remains in effect for Kartel, and his co-accused Shawn “Shawn Storm” Campbell and Andre St John. During the hearing, Justice Thomas told a packed courtroom that the ruling was not in breach of the Constitution.
Thomas added, “In view of the fact that their appeal is not yet determined they should remain in custody until their appeal is concluded. That is until a verdict of acquittal is entered or there is a decision for a retrial.” The ruling arrives after a tense back and forth to determine whether the three defendants were being illegally detained by the state after the March appeal.
While Vybz Kartel and his co-defendants’ attorney, Isat Buchanan argued that “a conviction must exist for there to be authority to detain” the men, state attorneys argued that although the Privy Council overturned the convictions in March, it did not equate to an acquittal and only reverted the men to the pretrial status with murder charges remaining “live,”and bail denied.
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