Dancehall legend Vybz Kartel walks free after roughly 13 years in prison.
In March, the 48-year-old artist won a United Kingdom appeal over the 2011 murder of his associate Clive “Lizard” Williams, whose body was never found. Kartel, born Adidja Palmer, was awaiting a final appeal in Jamaica, and on Wednesday (July 31), the court decided against a retrial. He was convicted on March 14, 2014.
Per Fox 5, the court found that the ailing musician would likely be unable to fulfill a longer sentence if a retrial were to occur. In 2023, it was reported that Palmer suffers from Graves disease and a heart condition, with a lawyer claiming that his prison conditions were “inhumane.” According to his legal team, Palmer was under harmful conditions and struggled to survive in a holding cell with a lack of air circulation, no water supply, and a bucket being utilized as a toilet.
“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,” Palmer’s defense team told Fox 5 last year. “His face is actually swollen. And one other thing. He always wears glasses; in this condition, that causes his eyes to protrude.”
In reference to Palmer’s health, the court pointed to the retrial potentially causing “psychological and financial effects that it would have on the appellants.”
Freed alongside Vybz Kartel were his three co-defendants Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St. John.
