On July 31, 2024, Jamaica’s Court of Appeal ruled that Vybz Kartel and his three co-accused would not be retried for the 2011 killing of Clive “Lizard” Williams, and formally acquitted them. Kartel, born Adidja Palmer, walked out of the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in downtown Kingston that evening after thirteen years in custody, the Jamaica Observer reports.

The ruling

The three-judge panel — Justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, Paulette Williams and David Fraser — weighed the seriousness of the alleged offence against the passage of time, the lack of access to witnesses and evidence, the cost of a new trial and Kartel’s declining health, according to the BBC. “We conclude that the interests of justice do not require a new trial,” McDonald-Bishop said. Outside the court, fans chanted “Free Worl’ Boss” as defence attorney Isat Buchanan emerged.

How the case arrived here

Kartel, Shawn “Shawn Storm” Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were convicted in March 2014 after a trial of more than two months. Jamaica’s Court of Appeal upheld the convictions in 2020. The Privy Council in London quashed them on March 14, 2024, finding that a juror accused of attempting to bribe fellow jurors should have been removed — a decision the Board called “fatal to the safety of the convictions.” The question of a retrial was sent back to Kingston; four months later, the Court of Appeal answered it in the negative.

Why it matters

Kartel’s release restored dancehall’s most prolific figure to the stage after a absence that spanned the genre’s most transformative decade. He had continued to release music throughout his imprisonment; the ruling on the eve of Emancipation Day carried symbolic weight across Jamaica. The timing and circumstances of Williams’ death remain unresolved in the public record.

Listen and dig deeper

Sources: Jamaica Observer — “Kartel freed!” and “WATCH: Vybz Kartel walks free from prison after 13 years” (July 31, 2024); BBC Newsbeat — “Vybz Kartel freed after murder conviction overturned” (Aug 1, 2024); Rolling Stone — “Vybz Kartel Freed After Appeals Court Declines to Retry Murder Charges” (July 31, 2024).

Editor’s note: This entry is part of the JamaicansMusic online museum — a career timeline assembled from the archive. It is dated to the era it documents; every claim is drawn from the linked sources.