SIDE-SHOWS MAY LEAD TO AN ACQUITTAL. Or Increases The Likely-hood Of A Successful Appeal Upon Conviction.

Conspiracy the­o­ries abound. Unsubstantiated alle­ga­tions of being tar­get­ed. Allegations of impro­pri­ety. Bringing a for­mer Senior Superintendent of Police, Carl Major, a peren­ni­al Prosecution wit­ness, to tes­ti­fy on their behalf. A mur­der case that has dragged on and on with seem­ing­ly no end in sight. If you ask me, the Defense in the Vybz Kartel case seems to hold all the cards. Yet the salient points of the case, i.e., the unequiv­o­cal voic­es on tape dis­cussing killing Lizard Williams, have not been seri­ous­ly chal­lenged in my esti­ma­tion. This leads me to con­clude that these are all dis­trac­tions by the defense. Let’s throw some s*** against the wall and see what sticks. This may very well work. In fact, the defense has cre­at­ed so many side-shows that it may be seen as rea­son­able doubt to a sym­pa­thet­ic, fear­ful, or cor­rupt­ed jury.

Add a lib­er­al defense-friend­ly judge (Lennox Campbell) to the mix; con­di­tions are ripe for this defen­dant to walk. So, how can I make such claims in a jury tri­al? You may even sug­gest that it’s not up to the Judge to decide inno­cence or guilt in a jury tri­al. You would be wrong. An accused is pre­sumed inno­cent or guilty based upon a pre­pon­der­ance of the evi­dence pre­sent­ed to a tri­er of facts. (Judge or Jury) . The defense has a duty to prove guilt beyond a rea­son­able doubt. The defen­dant has no such bur­den. In fact, the defen­dant may remain silent and say nary a word; the Prosecution must prove its case. However, the pre­sid­ing judge must main­tain tight con­trol of pro­ceed­ings, par­tic­u­lar­ly with the types of evidence/​exhibits he/​she allows in the tri­al. This must fol­low strict adher­ence to exist­ing laws and prece­dents. Allowing all kinds of dis­trac­tions into a case may cre­ate a sideshow. A sideshow usu­al­ly gives the appear­ance of rea­son­able doubt, result­ing in an acquit­tal for a guilty defen­dant. On that score, the pop­py-show Jamaican Criminal Justice System is liv­ing up to its own precedent.

MB