Flaws in ID evidence undermined murder conviction

According to Jamaica Observer (General News), AN Appeal Court panel on Friday said its decision in July to overturn the murder conviction of a St Catherine mechanic for a 2008 murder rested on deficiencies which struck at the core of the prosecution’s case, and the fairness of the jury’s assessment of the only evidence said to link him to the offence. The mechanic, Kenneth Pottinger, had been tried in the Home Circuit Court before then Supreme Court Judge Georgiana Fraser and a jury for two murders arising from a shooting incident, in February 2008, along St John’s Road, Spanish Town, St Catherine. In that incident Devarowe Powell and Ronald Robinson were killed. Pottinger was convicted for the murder of Powell in January of 2020 and sentenced to life in prison with the stipulation that he serve 23 years before becoming eligible for parole. The prosecution offered no evidence in Robinson’s murder, and a formal verdict of not guilty