Shineka Gray murder accused for court on March 19

WESTERN BUREAU:

The case against Gregory Roberts and Mario Morrison, the two men charged with last year's murder of Green Pond High School student Shineka Gray, has been set for a plea and case management hearing on March 19.

The men were given the new court date when they appeared before Justice Evan Brown last Thursday. They were subsequently remanded in police custody.

Attorney-at-law Chumu Parris, who is representing Roberts, said that the defendants will have the opportunity to enter fresh pleas to the charge on the next court date.

"The matter was adjourned until March 19 for a plea and case management hearing, which is for the persons to plea (guilty or not guilty) or for case management of the matter," Parris said in a brief statement.

If the defendants enter a plea of not guilty, the case management hearing will be held so that the prosecution and the defendants' attorneys can agree on what portions of evidence will be deliberated during the upcoming trial.

Roberts and Morrison were arrested and charged after the body of Shineka Gray, who was 15 years old at the time of her death, was found with multiple stab wounds in bushes in Irwin on February 1, 2017, three days after she was reported missing.

Gray, who was a grade-10 student at Green Pond High School, was last seen alive in Montego Bay, on her way home from the funeral of a schoolmate.

The case against Roberts and Morrison was transferred to the Circuit Court last October, after having previously been heard in the St James Parish Court following the men's arrest.