Respect Privy Council’s decision

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I write with reference to the article, ‘Long live Privy Council’, published in The Gleaner on March 15. I am pleased with the ruling of the United Kingdom Privy Council (UKPC), quashing the murder conviction against Vybz Kartel (Adidja Palmer) and the convictions of others, and sending back their case to the local Court of Appeal for a decision on whether they should face retrial for the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Campbell.

A retrial is recommended. However, everyone should respect the decision of the UKPC because they have been practising law for 223 years, while Jamaica’s Court of Appeal has been practising law for 62 years. This means the Lords of the UKPC have much more experience than the judges of Jamaica’s Court of Appeal.

I would suggest everyone takes the ruling of the UKPC Lords as a reminder that there is always room for improvement.

However, the burden of proof in a criminal trial is to establish guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt”. This means the standard of proof in a criminal trial gives the prosecutor a much greater burden than the plaintiff in a civil case. An example of burden of proof is with the defendant in a criminal trial, and the jury determines reasonable person standard.

The grounds for reasonable doubt are “a careful and impartial consideration of all of the evidence, or from luck of evidence”.

Finally, in criminal trials, the evidence must be very strong and convincing for a jury or judge to decide the accused is guilty.

CARGILL KELLY