Vybz Kartel transcripts ready

INCARCERATED superstar deejay Vybz Kartel may finally get several boxes of transcripts from his trial as early as next week, and once reviewed, he may kickstart the appeal against his life-sentence conviction within the next month.

Tom Tavares-Finson, one of the deejay’s attorneys, confirmed this development.

“The transcripts have been reviewed, and we were told that they have been copying and numbering the pages over the last couple of months. As you can well imagine, it is a couple of boxes of transcripts, but we have been informed that within the next week, it will be finished and Vybz Kartel will receive it, and then he can instruct his legal team, whosoever he chooses, to act and start the appeal process,” Tavares-Finson told LoopJamaica.com 

Legal experts believe that Vybz Kartel may have a great chance to overturn his conviction in the Court of Appeal given several legal issues which came out during the much-publicised trial including issues of tampering of evidence and identification. 

Vybz Kartel, whose given name is Adijah Palmer; entertainer Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell; Kahira Jones; and Andre St John were sentenced on April 3 to life imprisonment for the August 16, 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.

Justice Lennox Campbell ordered that Vybz Kartel serve 35 years in prison, with hard labour, before he becomes eligible for parole. Campbell and Jones are to serve 25 years before becoming eligible for parole, while St John is to become eligible after serving 30 years of his sentence. Following a 65-day trial, they were convicted on March 13.

A fourth accused, Shane Williams, was acquitted by the 11-member jury.

Kartel is being held at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston.