The dancehall artist Vybz Kartel, whose legal name is Adidja Palmer, is much more than a performer and prolific creator. He's an influential cultural icon, the epitome of the self-made man from the streets who succeeded despite the odds. Now facing a life sentence, he's in the battle of a lifetime — his last chance at freedom.

Now in an exclusive interview, his attorney, Isat Buchanan, tells me there's new evidence of foul play and fake phone messages that could throw out his conviction and set Kartel free. So he's taking the case to London in a high-stakes appeal.

Artist Vybz Kartel, whose legal name is Adidja Palmer, is much more than a performer and prolific creator. He's an influential cultural icon, the epitome of the self mad man from the streets, who succeeded despite the odds. Now facing a life sentence on a murder conviction.

"Looking at the evidence, this case was about getting Vybz Kartel in prison and leaving him there," Isat Buchanan, his attorney, said in an exclusive interview.

Buchanan said that much of Kartel's 2014 murder conviction along with three co-defendants was based on questionable evidence from a Blackberry Torch cellphone.

"What was put before the jury was evidence which we do not know if it was authentic, but what we do now know was that there was tampering of that cell phone," Buchanan said.

Buchanan said the examination of the cell phone was done by a court-authorized British digital expert flown in from the U.K. He believes that, along with what he says are violations of Kartel's constitutional rights, earned him the chance to appeal the conviction to the U.K.'s Privy Council, similar in power to the United States Supreme Court.

"Our hope is that the Privy Council, in reviewing the evidence, the fresh evidence that will be put before them, would come to the conclusion that everyone who has looked at the case or have access to the material would find that the conviction is unsafe and cannot stand," Buchanan said.

The Privy Council has several options, according to Buchanan, but he's focusing on the best case scenario for the imprisoned dancehall king.

"We're looking for a complete overturn of the conviction and for Mr. Palmer and his co-defendants to be free," Buchanan said.

Buchanan plans to file what's called a fresh evidence application to the Privy Council within the next several weeks. He said he's confident that after a thorough review, justice will prevail, and his client, whom he calls Mr. Palmer, will be a free man by next year.

#Jamaica #dancehall #criminaljustice

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