VYBZ KARTEL: MURDER CONVICTION OVERTURNED

Adidja Azim Palmer, better known as Vybz Kartel, has a reason to celebrate as his long-standing murder conviction has been overturned by a judge in Jamaica.

Last February, Vybz Kartel petitioned to go before the privy council to plead his case, but that petition was denied. After petitioning again, over the summer, he was granted the right to go before the Privy Council.

According to the BBC, the appeal has been made official as of Thursday (March 14) after a Privy Council in London concluded that one of the jurors in the case had been bribed, and as such, should not have been on his jury.

He was heard alongside his co-defendants Shawn Storm, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John, who all were given life sentences alongside Vybz in 2014 for the murder of promoter Clive “Lizard” Williams.

The privy council, much like the United States Supreme Court, is the highest court in the United Kingdom, which governs Great Britain, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, and all the commonwealth countries. If the privy council had denied Vybz Kartel’s bid for freedom, he would have remained in prison under a sentence of life imprisonment with a minimum of 32 and a half years.

A high court in Jamaica has yet to decide whether the dancehall legend’s case will be tried again, but for now, the self proclaimed “World Boss” has been freed pending the outcome of the retrial.

Hot Takes:

• This is good news for Vybz and his family as his time in prison has been terrible since he was first sentenced ten years ago. In fact, his family pleaded for a medical intervention back in May due to him presenting with symptoms of Graves disease which is an autoimmune disorder.
• Even freed, do you think he’d be allowed to travel to perform concerts? If his illness doesn’t stop him, how about agencies like the Bahamas’ Christian Council that has been pretty vocal on similar issues?
• If he is allowed to travel and put on concerts, what song of his do you look forward to hearing?