Allowing tainted juror to continue was 'fatal' to safety of the Kartel conviction - Privy Council

The Privy Council says while it has "considerable sympathy with the dilemma" faced by the trial judge in the Vybz Kartel murder trial following discovery of jury tampering attempts, allowing the tainted juror to continue in the case was fatal to the verdict.

"The board is very mindful of the serious consequences which may flow from having to discharge a jury shortly before the end of a long and complex trial. It is also very conscious of the danger of deliberate attempts to derail criminal trials by engineering situations in which it is necessary to discharge a jury," Lord Lloyd-Jones said in delivering the judgment this morning.

However, the Privy Council said it had to quash the conviction on several grounds.

It said the direction given to the jurors by the judge on the final day of the trial was inadequate to save the situation, and that the judge took no account for overcompensation by jurors who knew about the alleged bribe.

It added that there should have been no question of allowing the tainted juror to continue as doing so put the safety of the verdict at risk and was an infringement of the defendants' fundamental rights to a fair hearing.

It said the approach taken by the judge was a material irregularity in the trial.

The Privy Council pointed to alternative approaches used in England and Wales where the law allows for a judge alone to continue the case in similar circumstances.

Kartel, whose given name is Adidja Palmer, Shawn 'Shawn Storm' Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were convicted in March 2014 of the murder of Clive 'Lizard' Williams.

One of the jurors in the case, Livingston Caine was later found guilty of offering a $500,000 bribe to the jury foreman to influence other jurors to return a not guilty verdict in the case.

The Privy Council has remitted the case to the Court of Appeal for a decision on a retrial.

The director of public prosecutions will also have to determine whether she wishes to go forward with the case.

Defence attorneys have already indicated they will oppose a retrial.

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