Vybz Kartel’s attorney is moving to gain access to the cell phones at the center of his murder appeal case.
As Vybz Kartel’s Attorney-at-law Isat Buchanan gets ready to go before the Privy Council, he’s attacked the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in Jamaica and accused them of being shady and dodgy. His concerns mostly arise from the fact he’s been frustrated in his attempts to get access to ‘Exhibit 14C’, the cellphone which allegedly contained controversial voice notes recorded by the deejay.
Buchanan accused the office of being deliberate in their actions and added that they were violating the constitutional rights of Vybz Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer. He spoke with Loop News Jamaica about the challenges that he and Kartel are facing. “Despite the attempts of myself and the Queen’s Counsel, we have been unable to get access to the cellphone, which we believe has evidence of tampering,” Buchanan told Loop News. He also accused them of purposely delaying his access to the phone.
He revealed that his team has written to agents in England and hoped that the Privy Council would make the DPP office release the phone as they are seeking to prove if it was tampered with. The voice notes in question have been a source of contention since the start of Kartel’s murder case. Some of them, which were expletive-laden, were leaked during the trial after being played for jurors at the Home Circuit Court.
In one of the notes, someone says that their new shoes are missing and that if they aren’t returned by eight o’clock that evening, the person responsible would be killed. Kartel and his co-accused are still waiting for their case to be heard before the Privy Council in the UK.
Buchanan said that aspect of the case is going smoothly, “We’re still waiting on the final leave from the local (Court of Appeal) to go to the Privy Council. They have some housekeeping to do, but we have completed what we’re supposed to do,” Buchanan said.
The trio, Kartel, Shawn Storm, Jones, and St John are all serving mandatory life sentences for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. Following an appeal to the Court of Appeal, Vybz Kartel will be eligible for parole after serving 32-and-a-half years of his life sentence a reduction of just three years.
