In a surprising legal development, the 2014 murder conviction for Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel was overturned in a London court on March 14. Kartel had been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a man named Clive “Lizard” Williams, and has been incarcerated in Jamaica since 2011.
According to a BBC report, the UK Privy Council ruled that improprieties with the trial — most notably a juror who was allowed to remain on the trial despite allegedly offering bribes to his fellow jurors — were “fatal to the safety of the convictions that followed.” The 48-year-old Kartel (born Adidja Azim Palmer) currently remains in prison, and it is now up to Jamaican courts to decide whether to retry him.
Kartel is seen here in a 2010 performance, shortly before his legal troubles began.
Kartel had emerged as one of Jamaica’s brightest younger stars in the years prior to his legal troubles. Initially a protege of dancehall legend Bounty Killer, Kartel built a following in Jamaica, and slowly began making inroads into the U.S. market, starting with his guest appearance on Rihanna’s debut album, Music of the Sun, in 2005. His 2009 single “Romping Shop” broke onto U.S. radio and charted on the Billboard Hot 100, and he was the featured artist on Major Lazer’s breakthrough single “Pon de Floor” in 2010. He also had some success as an entrepreneur, launching his own rum brand, skincare line, and even branded condoms, as well as a Jamaican reality TV show titled Teacha’s Pet.
Kartel has collaborated with Busta Rhymes and released several successful albums since his incarceration.
His career hit a major roadblock in 2011, when he was arrested for marijuana possession, and subsequently charged for the murder of a Jamaican businessman named Barrington Burton. He was eventually acquitted of that murder, but was accused of murdering Williams while still awaiting trial. He was convicted in 2014, after one of the longest criminal trials in Jamaican history. Sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 35 years, the sentence was slightly reduced to a minimum of 32.5 years on appeal.
Kartel has always maintained his innocence of the murder. The body of Williams, who disappeared in 2011, has never been found.
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Kartel managed to maintain a mysteriously healthy recording output from prison, reaching No. 2 on the U.S. reggae charts with his King of the Dancehall album in 2016. Of Dons and Divas reached No. 8 on the U.S. charts in 2020, and he made a guest appearance with Busta Rhymes on the album Extinction Level Event 2: The Wrath of God that same year. His most recent EP, True Religion, was released in 2022.
“I’ve always been a prolific songwriter, and I record at breakneck speed as well, so I have a lot of surplus material to choose from,” Kartel told Rolling Stone from prison in a 2016 interview. “There is a recording studio at another correctional facility (in Jamaica) but none here … cellphones, laptops, or any Internet-capable instrument are prohibited items."
