HISTORIC FIRST: DPP wins appeal against murder convict Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

Murder convict Lindell Powell saw his 12-year prison sentence for two murders he committed in Westmoreland in January 2017 doubled Friday morning after the prosecution successfully appealed the “unduly lenient sentence”, which was handed down by Supreme Court Justice Bertram Morrison in December 2021.

Powell had pleaded guilty to the murders of Ida Clarke and Oral McIntosh and was sentenced to 12 years each on both counts. Justice Morrison had stated that the sentences were to run concurrently, and Powell would have been eligible for parole after serving 10 years.

However, the murder convict will now be spending significantly more time behind bars based on the decision handed down by the Court of Appeal on Friday.

He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment on both counts with the stipulation that he serves 20 years and seven months before being eligible for parole on the first count and 24 years and seven months before being considered for parole on the second. The sentences are to run concurrently.

Following the trial and sentencing in December 2021, the Director of Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewelyn served notice that she would appeal the sentence.

It marked the first time in Jamaica that the prosecution appealed a case.

The law to facilitate the groundbreaking move was enacted a month before in November 2021 and gives the prosecution limited scope of appeal in certain instances.

During the appeal process, the DPP had argued for a sentence of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole between 20 and 28 years.

The Court of Appeal heard arguments and submissions that ended on May 31. In handing down its decision Friday morning, the Court stated that “the sentences imposed by the learned judge are quashed…”

It also said the sentences are to be reckoned as having commenced on the date on which they were imposed which is December 2, 2021.

Powell had benefitted from a significant reduction in his sentence because of his guilty plea. But, Llewelyn had asserted that apart from being “unduly lenient” the judge had “misdirected himself” when he did not impose life imprisonment.

She also told the court during the appeals process that the judge “unwittingly strayed into the twilight zone of judicial arbitrariness”, when he acknowledged that the penalty for murder was life imprisonment, juxtaposed 15 years as the normal range – where the mandatory minimum in terms of eligibility for parole is 15 years – and then handed down a sentence of 12 years with parole after 10 years.

The DPP said it was a total misapplication of the law, given that the murders were committed with a gun.

“Having regard to the particularly egregious natures of the murders involved and despite the appellant’s guilty plea on both counts, a sentence of life imprisonment would have been appropriate,” Llewellyn told the court.

She also argued that the agreed facts showed that Powell had put thought into the murders.

The Court of Appeal will shortly make available its written reasons for arriving at its decision.

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