For the third time in less than two weeks, a murder case has been thrown out of court.
Yesterday, a man who faced a murder trial for a second time was cleared on orders from a judge.
Supreme Court Justice Roy Jones instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict against Quincy Johnson on the charges of murder and burglary because, in his opinion, the prosecution failed to make a case.
Prosecutors alleged that Johnson was responsible for the August 23, 2000 murder of Denise Walker during a home invasion. Walker was found stabbed to death in her home in Coral Harbour. She was in her underwear according to evidence.
According to Johnson’s lawyer, Raymond Rolle, none of the blood and vaginal swabs collected from the scene connected Johnson to the crime. Rolle said police found Johnson’s fingerprint on the outside of the window, but this evidence by itself was insufficient to support the charges of murder and burglary.
Justice Jones did not allow Johnson’s alleged confession into evidence, becasue in her opinion, it was obtained improperly.
As Mentioned, this is the third murder case that has been dismissed in less than two weeks.
On April 21, justice Vera Watkins directed a jury to acquit Richard McKinney of the February 5, 2010 murders of Lashon Davis and Omar Smith at Rupert Dean Lane again, because in the the judge’s opinion, the evidence was insufficient. And on April 28, the prosecution’s case against accused double murderer Hilfrant Joseph collapsed when Senior Justice Jon Isaacs ruled that his confession, the pillar of the prosecution’s case, was illegally obtained.
Joseph was accused of the June 2007 murders of his girlfriend, Denise Clarke, and his friend Felix Johnson.
While police, continue to boast about their high murder detection rate, there are ongoing concerns about the low level of convictions.
In his new book, “Reducing Murders in The Bahamas: A strategic plan based on empirical research,” police researcher Sergeant Chaswell Hanna reveals that from 2005 to 2009 there were 349 murders recorded and only 10 murder convictions and eight manslaughter convictions.
Source: The Nassau Guardian
