(Photo by Scott Gries/Getty Images)
After more than a decade behind bars, Vybz Kartel will spend the rest of 2024 as a free man. The Dancehall artist received the life update on Wednesday (July 31) after a Jamaican Court of Appeals declined to retry his murder charges, per Rolling Stone.
It’s been a rollercoaster year for the singer regarding his freedom. He has been in prison since 2011. In March, the United Kingdom’s Privy Council overturned his conviction. At the time, they cited juror misconduct, including alleged bribery from one juror to the others.
As previously reported, a jury convicted Kartel — real name Adidja Palmer — of murdering Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams after his disappearance. Jamaican police never recovered Williams’ body. Officers testified in the trial that they observed a text on Vybz Kartel’s phone about the body becoming “mincemeat.” Prosecutors accused the singer of luring Williams to his home and letting him get beaten to death.
Adidha Palmer’s trial was one of the longest in Jamaican history, lasting 64 days. Ultimately, a judge sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years behind bars. The court reduced that sentence to 32.5 years after the singer’s defense team appealed.
Soon after the conviction was overturned, the Privy Council forwarded the case to the Court of Appeals to determine whether Vybz Kartel and his co-defendants should stand trial again or go free. The three-judge panel, Justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, Paulette Williams, and David Fraser, opted for freedom.
According to the Jamaica Observer, the Court of Appeals stated that, “The interests of justice do not require a new trial to be ordered.”
His co-defendants Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John will also reportedly go free.
It’s unclear what Vybz Kartel has planned next and whether a musical comeback is in the works for the man who had the Carribean in a chokehold through the early 2000s. However, on Wednesday evening, Vybz shared his first video since going free. He was sitting in a moving vehicle, sipping champagne and sharing a kiss with a woman.
