The wait is finally over. The jury in the Vybz Kartel murder trial reached a verdict earlier today: Guilty. But the verdict itself is as rife with controversy as the trial had been.
Tweets from journalist and blogger Emily Crooks were coming seconds apart, as she reported on the situation in downtown Kingston:
Lawyers have been summoned to judge's chamber.
Tension inside; Tension outside. No hallelujah in the middle
#KartelMurderTrial
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
Some of her tweets contained photos of Kartel's supporters gathering outside the court; others showed the heavy police presence in the island's capital:
NOW – Part of the #KartelCrowd – downtown Kingston pic.twitter.com/oTNmqJVlmF
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
NOW- Police everywhere. This is King Street immediately in front of Supreme Court
#KartelMurderTrial pic.twitter.com/KHCqFJy7Fz
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
Earlier in the afternoon, there was speculation as to whether the judge was even inclined to hand over the case to the jury – the tension outside the court was palpable:
Calm on the inside now. Tension on the outside
#KartelMurderTrial pic.twitter.com/n0oJElWnHy
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
Anticipation on social media mounted once Crooks tweeted that the judge had indeed sent the jury to deliberate:
BREAKING – at 3:42PM on the 13th March, 2014 Justice Lennox Campbell has sent the jury out to decide Kartel's fate!
#KartelMurderTrial
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
Soon, Crooks began crunching the numbers when it came to the way the jury would vote:
My note – However after 2 hours, judge can accept majority of not less than 9:3. Interesting here as panel is 11 not 12
#KartelMurderTrial
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
As it turned out, the jury came back with a 10:1 guilty verdict amidst rumours that one of the jurors attempted to bribe the others. Sadly, the hearsay turned out to be true:
Breaking – police were lined up here to arrest juror number 3, a male for attempting to bribe others jurors
#KartelMurderTrial
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
In the end, the attempt didn't affect the outcome of the trial and word soon began to spread about the decision of the jury:
Adidja Palmer – GUILTY
Shawn Campbell – GUILTY
Kahira Jones – GUILTY
Shane Williams – Not GUILTY
Andre St John – GUILTY
Kartel, 38, whose real name is Adidja Palmer and his co-accused went on trial on November 20 in the Home Circuit Court.
Emily Crooks tweeted the judge's response to the outcome:
Judge to jury-'i will say this u couldn't have done anything else on this evidence presented here. It was not possible'
#KartelMurderTrial
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
Then the action really started, as Kartel's supporters, not liking the decision, became more vocal:
NOW -Shouts coming from Tower Street now 'we waan Kartel'
Police closing in on the crowd gathered there
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 13, 2014
The situation continued to escalate; up to two hours ago, protests were still taking place:
Police directing traffic away from King Street now as bottles are being thrown – police say
— Emily Crooks (@emilynationwide) March 14, 2014
Some netizens seemed overwhelmed by the barrage of information on the breaking story, while others joked about it:
My TL moving too fast…I can't keep up #VybzKartelMurderTrial
— SonLoray (@sonloray) March 13, 2014
That Emily Crooks lady should thank the #VybzKartelMurderTrial for 87% of her followers. LOL
— Matthew Allan (@Besses) March 13, 2014
Dancehall Worldwide shared a video on Facebook that demonstrated the anger of the crowd:
Post by Dancehall Worldwide.
Some Twitter users were irritated by the protests:
Some wata dem want.. Police need fi tun on di hose dem. RT @I_Got_kush_: People like rice #VybzKartelMurderTrial
— #InstigatorOF (-_-) (@WhytesWorld) March 13, 2014
…while other entrepreneurial types made the most of the situation on the streets:
Lol@Da_MoneyJunkie: Meanwhile on Facebook.. Dwl I swear, Jamaicans a real sample enuh lmaoo!!
#VybzKartelMurderTrial pic.twitter.com/EFzXDYmIRi"
— ♛Nigh†N∪R∫∃♕ (@BrowneyezForeva) March 13, 2014
The calls for Kartel's freedom continued, and dominated the evening's news coverage:
Listening to Nationwide News at 5pm … the chants of FREE WORLD BOSS are deafening #VybzKartelMurderTrial
— RickyRich (@rickjam) March 13, 2014
On Facebook, blogger Annie Paul, who was also following the trial, observed that amidst all the hype of the trial, the murder victim was somehow dismissed from being top of mind:
really glad i caught the tail end of @djmillerJA's interview w Lizard William's sister, he really has been forgotten in all this.
She quipped:
Scandal going to seem tame tonight after #KartelMurderTrial verdict…#Guilty
The thumbnail image used in this post is by Esten Hurtle, used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license. Visit Esten Hurtle's flickr photostream.
Written by Janine Mendes-Franco
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