Two murder matters sent back by the Court of Appeal for retrial have not had dates set for those cases to be heard.

The Court of Appeal  received a report from the Supreme Court indicating how cases sent for retrial over the last six years have been dealt with.

The report was requested on day one of the retrial hearing for entertainer Vybz Kartel and his three co-appellants. 

The hearing is to determine if the four will be retried for the 2011 murder of Clive “Lizard” Williams.

Justice Marva McDonald-Bishop informed this morning that the court was in receipt of an affidavit of verification from the registrar of the Supreme Court.

It refers to cases for retrial in the Home Circuit Court going back to 2018.

The document indicates that over the 6 years two cases were sent from the Appeal Court for retrial, one was sent back in September 2022 and the other in September 2023.

 The accused in both cases remain in custody.

Meanwhile, the prosecution continued to argue this morning  the issue of whether or not the pre-trial publicity would prevent the men from getting a fair trial if a retrial is ordered.

It was argued that publicity has not reached the threshold to say it would cause the potential jury pool to be biased. 

A prosecutor added that in-spite of the publicity there are safeguards in place.

He noted that two of the appellants enjoy international acclaim and the trial had heightened interest.

The prosecutor made comparisons with two overseas cases- those of celebrities Bill Cosby and Oscar Pistorius which had heightened interest.