UPDATE: Yan Edwards & Allen Baptiste found guilty of murdering Keri Harrigan
None of the accused had anything to say when given the opportunity. Sentencing has been set for March 28, 2013.
The jury had spent the first half of the day being guided by Justice Redhead who has been presiding over the case.
The trial of Allen Baptiste and Yan Edwards ran for approximately two weeks during which time the Prosecution had presented several witness with the chief witnesses being Vaughn Cameron and Henito Penn. Both men testified at length of the importation of guns, drugs and ammunition. The court was told of a plot to kill Harrigan because he was ‘doing too much talking’. Cameron had told the court that prior to March 16, 2011 he was witness to a conversation between Edwards and Baptiste at the East End Fire Station where Edwards worked at the time and where he had invited Cameron to visit him on March 15, 2011.
He accused Edwards of telling him a number of things between March 15 and 16, 2011 including that he was not fit for “the job”, he (Edwards) and Baptiste were built for this” “lofting/sleeping on the job” among other things.
Penn on the other had admitted that the package was brought into the country through a well known courier service and that it was him and Edwards that had ordered the items, which included three guns, ammunition, drugs and a few other items which were not deemed illegal. He had also told the court that he had loaded a 45mm firearm which had been brought into the country and unpacked at the house of an L. Allen Wheatley and that he (Penn) had hidden the other two guns in the yard of his grandmother, which to date is a mystery as none of the evidence were presented to the court and, according to Penn, he was not taken to his grandmother’s place to show police where he had hidden the weapons.
Several experts and law enforcement officers were also among those giving evidence in the matter which came to an end this afternoon.
See previous story posted on March 6, 2013
Keri Harrigan murder accused to know fate today March 6
The fate of the two accused of the murder of Mr Keri Harrigan on March 16, 2011, Mr Yan Edwards and Mr Allen Baptiste, is now in the hands of the jurors who are expected to give their verdict today March 6, 2013, in the High Court before Justice Albert Redhead.
Yesterday March 5, 2013, both the prosecution and defense attorneys presented their final assessments of their cases in the bid to convince the jury to rule in their favour. Senior Crown Counsel Valston Graham did his part as the Prosecution while Attorney at Law Stephen Daniels spoke on behalf of Yan Edwards and Patrick Thompson for Allen Baptiste.
Both defense lawyers spent much time with their deliberations re-examining what was described as “inconsistencies’’ in the evidence giving by witnesses as it related especially to the timeframe given for movements and actions between March 15 and 18, 2011.
For Mr Daniels, who went to the extreme of preparing a chart to present to the jury, said Vaughn Cameron had testified that Edwards had called him on March 15 from a 540 number advising him to meet him at the Fire Station in East End where he (Edwards) was working at the time. Daniels pointed out to the jury that based on the colored chart submitted by the CCT Officer, there was no call on March 15 to Cameron's phone.
He further said that Cameron had given police Edwards' cell number as 545-6337 in the initial stages of the investigations but after a period of two years, Cameron’s memory suddenly increased and he provided another number, 540-3805 as being that of Edwards. He said that the officer during the trial prepared a new chart with the 540 number being that of Edwards.
Mr Daniels pointed out a number of other areas he considered inconsistent evidence against his client by the Prosecution witnesses.
The defense lawyer also dwelled on the point that witness in Chief Vaughn Cameron was only given his interpretation of what he understood Edwards to have allegedly said in his statement of “I will deal with him” and “Keri Running he mouth too much”.
Mr Thompson said that based on the fact that one of the defense witnesses, a police officer, who said that investigations into the murder are still ongoing, gives a clear indication that the prosecution has not completed its job but it still had the two accused before the court.
He was critical of witness Detective Jason Harford who told the court boldly that he has been in the position for some 11 years but did not know about voice identification. Thompson also said that his client has had no previous criminal record and none of the witnesses for the Prosecution ever gave evidence implicating his client.
Thompson also challenged the jury not to make their decision of the two on trial into one but that their judgments were to be separated based on the facts of the evidence. He said that it was no time for them to be sympathetic towards the mother of Keri Harrigan but to apply the rule of law based solely on the evidence and their common sense.
He noted also that there was not a single witness who said they saw who shot Keri Harrigan on the night of March 16, 2011.
See previous article posted on March 5, 2013
Edwards & Baptiste must lie on their bed of thorns! Prosecution
- Prosecution & defense make closing arguments in Keri Harrigan murder trial in High Court
Lawyers in the case of murder against Keri Harrigan commenced their final submissions to the jury and Justice Albert Redhead this morning, March 5, 2013.
Standing trial in the High Court for the murder committed on March 16, 2011 in Long Look, are Yan Edwards and Allen Baptiste. Mr Harrigan was shot to death in the vicinity of the Long Look Clinic on the night of March 16, 2011.
On the floor first today was Senior Crown Counsel Mr Valston Graham who challenged the jury to consider the facts of the case as presented since they are not lawyers and the only two tools they needed to make their decisions were common sense and a reasoning power.
Mr Graham told the jury that the evidence given gives a clear indication that Mr Yan Edwards was painted as the ring leader throughout the case and that he was well respected by the witnesses Mr Henito Penn and Mr Vaughn Cameron as "Mr", which gives clear indication they had a high level of respect for Edwards.
The Prosecution said it must be noted that Baptiste and Edwards were not on trial for possession of guns and ammunition or drugs but for the murder of Keri Harrigan. He said that by taking the evidence of Cameron and Penn they (accused) were not being presented as "sinners now reformed as saints". Mr Graham said the witnesses, on different points of their testimonies admitted, in the case of Penn, to say that he had loaded the 45mm which was left in the possession of Edwards.
In the case of Cameron, Mr Graham said Edwards had raised the gun in the air saying "I will give Kerry some of this".
"Edwards and Baptiste made their bed of thorns and must be made to lie on it," Mr Graham told the court. "The writing is on the wall, " he added.
The Senior Crown Counsel also said that at no point in the evidence was the picture painted that Baptiste indicated that he wanted no part to play in the plot.
The statement accepted into evidence and read to the court was also a strong point used by the Prosecution. Mr Graham said the Prosecution was not able to bring the 45mm firearm before the court because they did not have it but the jurors must "put the dots together".
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63 Responses to “UPDATE: Yan Edwards & Allen Baptiste found guilty of murdering Keri Harrigan”
Look $%&* today he mds still threatening ppl and ppl them children even in jail .he daughter think she bad Bc of he ☠️☠️. She mds should feel shame .- love and kisses 2020