Jamaican Appeal Court Denies Vybz Kartel's Motion for 2014 Murder Conviction

Vybz Kartel was hoping to get his 2014 murder conviction appealed but it was denied in a Jamaican courtroom on Friday.

A three-member panel in Kingston released a 235-page opinion detailing why they weren’t dismissing the charges against the Dancehall artist and his co-defendants, Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John.

The hearing was held via teleconference and streamed on Instagram Live due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Kartel, born Adidja Azim Palmer, Campbell (known as Shawn Storm), Jones and St. John (known as Mad Suss) were charged in 2011 with the murder in Jamaica of Clive “Lizard” Williams. Williams’ remains were never found by authorities.

Court documents claim the amount of direct and circumstantial evidence led to the court decision to sentence Campbell and Jones to a minimum of 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole and Kartel and St. John to serve a minimum of 35 years and 30 years, respectively.

Vybz Kartel and his co-defendants have previously appealed their convictions in 2017, which clearly also got denied, citing the prosecutor’s use of only one witness and other mismanagements of the case like the publicity.

Kartel recently made headlines for making a brief, historic guest appearance on Jamaican producer, Rvssian’s live. We reported that Jamaican authorities confiscated his contraband cellphone and the repost of the live was removed from his Instagram page.