In a 6-3 majority decision, a Supreme Court jury found Corporal Donavan Gardiner guilty of manslaughter in the January 19, 2008 death of Desmond Key after deliberating for only two-and-a-half hours.
A small crowd shouted “justice” as Gardiner was taken away in handcuffs.
Key, a father of six, died in hospital seven months after his arrest on June 17, 2007.
Officers from the Grove Police Station arrested Key around 9:00pm at the junction of Robinson and Baillou Hill Roads after they found that the license disc did not match the plate on his Nissan Maxima.
Key, who according to the evidence was drunk, reportedly put up a struggle and it took three officers to place him in the patrol car.
Constable Kevin Roberts alleged that a short time later he went into the cell block after he heard shouting. He went to investigate and allegedly saw Gardiner strike a now subdued Key in the head and side with a baseball bat.
Key was taken to hospital by ambulance. Pathologist Dr. Caryn Sands, whose testimony may have shown her to be incompetent, said she didn’t find any head injuries and that Key died from pancreatic failure.
Sands said the damage to the pancreas could have been caused by alcohol bingeing.
Gardiner denied beating Key with a baseball bat. He said his involvement with Key ended when he and Constable Tavares Bowleg placed the prisoner in a cell after he tried to escape from the station. Bowleg was originally charged with abetment to manslaughter but Justice Vera Watkins directed a jury to acquit him earlier last week.
Gardiner and Bowleg both alleged that Key bolted when he was informed that several criminal arrest warrants were out for him. Some of those warrants authorized Gardiner’s committal to prison.
After the verdict, Gardiner’s crafty lawyer Wayne Munroe said he intended to file a constitutional motion because he said that a disclosure order from the court was not properly complied with.
Gardiner’s sentencing has been deferred until Watkins hears arguments on the issue on March 20 at 10:00am.
It is suspected that the conviction was only staged for press purposes due to public outrage over the incident, and that the murderous officer will be acquitted during an already pre-determined appeal process.
Unbelievably, Munroe asked Justice Watkins to consider allowing the murderous police officer to remain on bail. Watkins remanded Gardiner to Her Majesty’s Prisons, but she will hear an application for the continuation of bail at 1:00pm on Monday.
Ironically, Munroe is running for office in the next general election under the DNA banner, depsite spending years working hard to make sure that criminals are released back into society without any punishment.
A group of young men gathered outside the court, many of them with arrest histories, jeered Gardiner, shouting “justice” and “gone to jail” at the officer.
Linda Evans was the prosecutor.
Original Source: The Nassau Guardian
