Jamaica’s Court of Appeal ordered for dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel to be released from prison after serving 13 years of a life sentence on murder charges.
Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams was murdered in 2011, police said his death was the result of a dispute with Kartel, 48, and associates over missing guns. His body was never found. Investigators believe he was beaten to death inside of his home on outskirts of 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 on the streets of Jamaican capital, rapper Drake posted a photo of himself wearing a ‘Free Kartel’ t-shirt 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 got to number two in the Billboard Reggae charts in 2016.
Kartel posted numerous videos on his Twitter page showing him drinking champagne alongside his fiancee, 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
Around 5:30 pm local time, Kartel was pictured walking through Kingston’s Tower Street alongside his fiancee, Sidem Ozturk as crowds chanted his name, reports The Jamaica Gleaner.
Ozturk is a UK based social worker, according to numerous reports.
Military and riot police were at the scene to stop the crowd from getting out of control. People chanted: ‘Free World Boss! Free World Boss!,’ referencing one of the singer’s monikers.
White Hummer stretch limos were hired by a funeral home in order to transport Kartel and his entourage, mortician Peter Perry told the Gleaner.
‘This is their independence, their emancipation … We have always said this many times during interviews – God and time. We do the work while God grounded us in the faith and so were confident of this outcome,’ his lawyer, Isat Buchanan told The Gleaner.
Kartel shot to fame with his 2003 album Up 2 Di Time. Later his song, Pon De Floor, was used as the sample for Beyonce’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 of a shirt that is about 18.5 inches in the neck area, you couldn’t close the collar on his neck and that’s how bad it is in this moment,’ the lawyer said.
‘His face is actually swollen. And one other thing. He always wears glasses; in this condition, that causes his eyes to protrude.’
‘We conclude that the interest of justice does not require a new trial to be ordered,’ the court’s ruling read in part.
Drake celebrates Kartel’s release by wearing a ‘Free Kartel’ t-shirt
Kartel embracing his fiancee on social media. The singer has been married twice before
Kartel fans took to the streets en masse to celebrate the singer’s release
In 2023, doctors issued a sworn affidavit detailing that Kartel was suffering with a heart condition and Graves disease adding that he was in need of surgery, reported the Fox-affiliate at the time.
The ruling was made in part because the court felt like a new trial would not result in a longer sentence than the time Kartel has already served.
After 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 imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years, later reduced on appeal to 32-and-a-half.
A key piece of evidence in the trial was a text message that police said they retrieved from Kartel’s phone saying Williams had been chopped up in a ‘mincemeat’ so fine his remains would never be located.
Authorities said the case had posed numerous security challenges. Prosecution witnesses and relatives of the victim needed state protection due to numerous threats.
Officers were also threatened, including Detective Sgt. Patrick Linton, whose home was attacked with a fire bomb after he testified against Kartel.
In February, Kartel and his co-defendants mounted their final possible appeal at the Privy Council in London, the final court of appeal in Jamaica and some other Commonwealth countries.
Their lawyers argued the trial judge wrongly handled allegations that one juror offered 500,000 Jamaican dollars (around $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 mounted their final possible appeal at 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 the Court of Appeal in Jamaica to decide whether Kartel and his co-defendants should stand trial again.
Although he has been jailed 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 Jamaica Ghetto.’
He’s long been popular among young Jamaicans, especially those in blighted slums.
As his popularity grew, he increasingly got in trouble with the law.
Last year, another murder case against Kartel collapsed after prosecutors failed to produce enough evidence to support allegations that he and two others killed businessman Barrington ‘Bossy’ Burton in 2011.
