22 year-old Akeem Thurton, the man who was convicted in the first trial without jury of shooting and almost killing attorney Rodwell Williams, got bad news today: his conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeal.
Viewers may remember that his appeal was heard exactly a week ago. At that session, Jamaican American Human Rights lawyer Nancy Mae Anderson worked with local attorney Bryan Neal to prepare a 20 ground appeal on Thurton's behalf.
After deliberating, the panel of judges delivered its decision today that his appeal was dismissed, but they decided that a small amount of time needed to be subtracted from the sentence that the Chief Justice handed him in 2012.
That's not the outcome Thurton's family or his attorneys were hoping for. They were hoping that the court would overturn the conviction and set him free. We spoke with them outside about the decision, and here's what they told us:
Bryan Neal - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"The appeal was dismissed on the conviction. The only appeal was allowed was the appeal in respect of his sentence, but only 6 months was removed from his sentence, so effectively he will serve fourteen and a half years by this decision of this court."
Daniel Ortiz
"What was the outcome he was hoping for?"
Bryan Neal - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"He was hoping to go home today. The good thing about our legal system is that there is one final opportunity to appeal, so that we have the Caribbean Court of Justice and any person who is dissatisfied with a decision of a court, especially with the court of appeal - there is one more chance for him to appeal to the CCJ, so Ms. Anderson and I will be looking at the grounds that we had filed. We will see if we can strengthen those grounds from the court of appeal and decide if we have the possibility to mount an appeal from this decision, which is Akeem Thurton's right to do."
Daniel Ortiz
"What was the ground of appeal you believe was the strongest which you believe would have succeeded?"
Bryan Neal - Attorney for Akeem Thurton
"The retroactivity of the application of the amendment to the jury act that it should not have applied to him. Also, some of the procedural irregularities that we found to have him read the transcript. We thought that those were substantial grounds and we put them before the court, but the court is entitled to refuse to accept them and that is what it has done."
Loraine Thurton, Mother of Akeem Thurton
"I think it was unfair, because my son doesn't deserve this. My son almost spent 4 years in jail and they still give him back the same time again. He has more than 10 years more to spend. My son is young and he is not a gun man. My son told the court everything that they wanted to hear. I don't know what else to say."
Daniel Ortiz
"Talk to us about Akeem, what did he say when he left a while ago?"
Loraine Thurton, Mother of Akeem Thurton
"He told me that they chance him and he was emotional and I told him to be strong and tomorrow is family day and I told him that I will come and spend the day with him, so just stay strong until I see him tomorrow."
Thurton has served 3 years since his date he was convicted, but the Court of Appeal factored in the time he spent on remand after he was formally arrested and charged. Thurton has 21 days to apply to the Court of Appeal for leave to appeal to the Caribbean Court of Justice. As viewers will remember, however, he had difficulty securing an attorney for the first Supreme Court case when he was originally tried by the Chief Justice. He managed to secure legal representation when Nancy Anderson and Bryan Neal took an interest in his case. Neal told us today that he and Anderson will try to assist Thurton as much as possible to get his final appeal heard at the Caribbean Court of Justice.
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