Jamaica’s Court of Appeal has ordered dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel released from prison after serving 13 years of a life sentence on murder charges.
Clive “Lizard” Williams was killed in 2011. Police said his death was the result of a dispute with Kartel, 48, and his associates over missing weapons. His body was never found. Investigators believe he was beaten to death inside his home outside Kingston.
Kartel’s alleged accomplices Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St. John were also released. The singer’s former name was Adidja Palmer.
In addition to the thousands of people who celebrated his release in the streets of the Jamaican capital, rapper Drake posted a photo of himself wearing a T-shirt with the phrase ‘Free Kartel’ to celebrate the news.
The singer, who collaborated with Rihanna and Jay-Z during his career, has long maintained that his treatment in prison was brutal, with no air circulation and being forced to use a bucket as a toilet.
Despite this treatment, Kartel released an album from prison, King of the Dancehall, which peaked at number two on Billboard’s Reggae charts in 2016.
Kartel posted numerous videos on his Twitter page showing him drinking champagne alongside his fiancée, Sidem Ozturk, following his release.
The singer, who collaborated with Rihanna and Jay-Z during his career, has long maintained that his treatment in prison was brutal, with no air circulation and being forced to use a bucket as a toilet.
At around 5:30 p.m. local time, Kartel was photographed walking down Kingston’s Tower Street alongside his fiancée, Sidem Ozturk, as the crowd chanted his name, according to reports. The Jamaican Gleaner.
Ozturk is a social worker based in the UK, according to numerous reports.
Military and riot police were on site to prevent the crowd from getting out of control. People chanted: “Freedom, boss of the world! Freedom, boss of the world!”, a reference to one of the singer’s nicknames.
A funeral home hired white Hummer limousines to transport Kartel and his entourage, funeral director Peter Perry told the Gleaner.
“This is her independence, her emancipation… We have always said it many times during interviews: God and time. We do the work as God grounds us in faith and that is why we are confident of this outcome,” her lawyer, Isat Buchanan, told The Gleaner.
Kartel rose to fame with his 2003 album Up 2 Di Time. His song Pon De Floor was later used as a sample for Beyoncé’s Run the Worlds (Girls).
In a brief interview with Fox New York, One of Kartel’s lawyers described his living conditions.
“His neck was swollen, if you think about a shirt that’s about 18.5 inches in the neck area, you couldn’t close the collar and that’s how bad it is right now,” the attorney said.
“His face is swollen. And one more thing: he always wears glasses, and in this condition, that makes his eyes stick out.”
“We conclude that the interests of justice do not require that a new trial be ordered,” the court’s ruling reads in part.
Drake celebrates Kartel’s release by wearing a ‘Free Kartel’ t-shirt
Kartel hugs his fiancée on social media. The singer has been married twice before
Kartel fans took to the streets in droves to celebrate the singer’s release
In 2023, doctors issued an affidavit detailing that Kartel was suffering from a heart condition and Graves’ disease and added that he needed surgery, the outlet reported. Fox’s subsidiary At the time.
The ruling was made in part because the court found that a new trial would not result in a sentence longer than the time Kartel had already served.
Following a 64-day trial in Kingston, one of the longest in Jamaican history, Kartel and three others were convicted in 2014. Kartel was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 35 years, a sentence later reduced on appeal to 32 1/2 years.
A key piece of evidence in the trial was a text message police said they recovered from Kartel’s phone saying Williams had been cut into pieces so fine that his remains would never be located.
Authorities said the case had posed numerous security challenges. Prosecution witnesses and the victim’s relatives needed state protection due to numerous threats.
Officers were also threatened, including Detective Sergeant Patrick Linton, whose home was firebombed after he testified against Kartel.
In February, Kartel and his co-defendants filed their last possible appeal with the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal in Jamaica and some other Commonwealth countries.
His lawyers argued that the trial judge mishandled allegations that one juror offered 500,000 Jamaican dollars (about $3,200) to fellow jurors to return not guilty verdicts.
This contributed to the judge’s decision to release Kartel, as that action affected the verdict.
In February, Kartel and his co-defendants filed their last possible appeal with the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal in Jamaica and some other Commonwealth countries.
Kartel pictured with rapper Ja Rule in 2003 at a Source magazine event
The Privy Council sent the case back to Jamaica’s Court of Appeal to decide whether Kartel and his co-defendants should be tried again.
Although imprisoned since 2011, Kartel recorded numerous new songs from his cell using a smartphone and co-wrote a book about himself titled ‘The Voice of the Jamaican Ghetto’.
It has long been popular among Jamaican youth, especially those living in degraded slums.
As his popularity grew, he found himself increasingly in trouble with the law.
Last year, another murder case against Kartel collapsed after prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to support allegations that he and two others killed businessman Barrington “Bossy” Burton in 2011.
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