Free after 15 years

Two St Catherine men, who had spent more than 15 years behind bars for the killing of a mother of five in Central Village, were on Friday freed after the Court of Appeal quashed their murder convictions.

The men, Kimarley Fortella and Kestner Murray, had been in custody since November 2010 and were convicted in 2014 for the murder of 35-year-old Corrine Johnson, otherwise called ‘Debby’. Johnson was shot and killed at her home in Central Village on January 14, 2010.

Following their conviction in the Home Circuit Court, both men were sentenced to life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after serving 15 years.

However, they subsequently filed notices of appeal in July 2014 challenging their sentence and conviction.

In a decision handed down on Friday, the appellate court allowed the appeals, ruling that the convictions were unsafe.

Central to the ruling were serious concerns about the reliability of the prosecution’s case. The court pointed to significant inconsistencies in the testimony of the sole eyewitness, including contradictions regarding how and where Johnson was shot.

The panel of judges also criticised the trial judge’s handling of the case, noting a failure to adequately guide the jury on how to treat the inconsistencies in the evidence. This omission, the court found, undermined the safety of the verdict.

WEAKNESS IN EVIDENCE

Attorney Kemar Robinson, who represented Fortella, argued that the case should never have been left to the jury, given the weaknesses in the prosecution’s evidence.

Murray was represented by Keith Bishop, who submitted that the appeal should be allowed on the basis that his client had effectively served the sentence that would have been imposed had proper sentencing guidelines been applied.

According to evidence led at trial, Johnson had been at home combing her daughter’s hair when five armed men, dressed in black, entered her yard in the community known as Compound, near Central Village.

A witness testified that she recognised the men and heard them asking Johnson about her boyfriend, who was reportedly a don in the area and had been missing since early January 2010.

The men allegedly opened fire, hitting Johnson multiple times. She died at the scene.

Both Fortella and Murray had maintained their innocence throughout the trial, relying on alibi evidence supported by two witnesses.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com