Six Cops' Murder Trial: No-Case Submission Begins in Kingston Court
Defence attorneys opened no-case arguments Thursday in the murder trial of six Jamaican police officers charged over three deaths in Barbican, St Andrew, in 2013.
Defence opens no-case submission in long-running Barbican shooting trial
The defence team in the murder trial of six police officers began its no-case submission on Thursday before Justice Sonia Bertram-Linton at the Home Circuit Court in Kingston, jamaicaobserver.com reports. Attorney Hugh Wildman led the submissions, raising numerous arguments to the trial judge.
Prosecutor Kathy-Ann Pyke closed the Crown's case on Wednesday after marshalling the prosecution's evidence since January. The seven-member jury was excused from the proceedings starting Thursday and instructed to return on November 30. Bertram-Linton told the jurors their presence was not required during the no-case phase.
No media coverage of the specific arguments put forward during the submission will be permitted. The defence team also includes attorneys John Jacobs and Althea Grant-Coppin, while Pyke will present arguments on behalf of the prosecution.
The six officers — Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch — are charged in connection with the deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer, and Mark Allen on January 12, 2013. The three men were shot on Acadia Drive in Barbican, St Andrew, in what police described as a gun battle. Corporal Fullerton faces an additional charge of making a false statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom).
According to the prosecution's account, the three men were travelling in a blue Mitsubishi Outlander when officers signalled the driver to stop. The driver initially hesitated, but after the vehicle came to a halt, the occupants allegedly exited and opened fire on police. All three were killed in the exchange. A fourth man reportedly escaped through a gully at the intersection of Evans Avenue and Acadia Drive. Police said two illegal firearms were recovered at the scene.
The final prosecution witness, called on Wednesday, was a policeman from the Technical Services Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. He was not part of the original investigative team but was called by Pyke to identify the signature of another officer directly connected to the case. The prosecutor also sought to have the witness identify printed photographs of the crime scene, but the trial judge rejected that application. Pyke then formally closed the Crown's case.
The week prior, a crime scene reconstruction expert who has provided such services to Indecom since 2010 admitted under cross-examination that he is not currently certified in crime scene reconstruction. He told the court that although he completed the relevant training, the certification programme was discontinued before the credential was issued. "I took the test, passed the test, then they removed the test," he said from the witness stand.
The trial's first and primary witness, when proceedings opened in January, was Minister of Agriculture Floyd Green. In January 2013, Green resided on the top floor of an apartment complex on Acadia Drive. He testified that he was at home when he heard what sounded like gunshots and went to a window to observe. Green told the court he saw police officers and the men who later died at the scene, but did not witness the precise moments they were shot — only noticing when they became motionless on the ground. He was also unable to identify any of the officers present.
Source: Google News JM — Crime