The embattled juror, Livingston Cain, who is accused of offering to bribe another juror with half a million dollars to free Vybz Kartel, has been found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
On Tuesday afternoon, Parish judge Maxine Ellis ruled that Livingston Cain was guilty of the charge, which said he offered the jury foreman money in Kartel’s 2014 trial to influence other jurors to return a not guilty verdict.
Cain, who was represented by Valerie Neita-Robertson and Kymberli Whittaker, had pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was initially charged with perverting the course of justice and three other charges, which involved approaching other jurors to sway their verdict. One of the other three charges was withdrawn by the Crown.
According to evidence by the prosecution, Caine attempted to pervert the course of Justice on March 13, 2014, by offering the jury foreman $500,000 to ensure that Kartel and his three co-accused were found not guilty during the intense public trial.
Prosecutors had said that Cain met the foreman in the Supreme Court library, where he made the offer to two other jurors for the same outcome- to see Kartel freed.
To one of those jurors, he didn’t make a monetary inducement but offered to take care of her, and in return, she delivered a not-guilty verdict.
The other juror says the accused tried to convince him on two separate occasions.
“These guys are prominent entertainers so we cyaa send them a jail,” Cain said as he made out a case for Vybz Kartel, Shawn ‘Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John, all charged and convicted for the murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
For the other two jurors, Justice Ellis found Cain not guilty as the prosecution had not proven its case. Last week, Justice Ellis lamented that the case had been in the courts for almost eight years and needed to be concluded before the end of 2022.
Cain’s lawyer, King’s Counsel Robertson, told journalists that she planned to appeal the conviction.
