A man convicted of killing a policeman in the line of duty had his death sentence overturned on appeal Wednesday.
Mario Flowers must now be resentenced by the Supreme Court for the December 29, 2007 shooting death of Constable Ramos Williams.
The appellate tribunal of Justices Christopher Blackman, Stanley John and Abdulai Conteh found that Flowers did not deserve the ultimate punishment as there was no evidence that he could not be reformed.
The Justices of Appeal said, "He was 28-years-old at the time of sentencing and had only three minor, unrelated previous convictions. We are convinced that in those circumstances, to impose and seek to sustain the death penalty is to discount, if not put to naught, any prospect of reform or social re-adaptation that he could prove capable of. This is not to ignore the fact that it was a policeman whom he killed, but it could have been any civilian going to officer Williams' aid or any innocent bystander for that matter. Therefore, to impose and seek to sustain the death penalty in those circumstances would, we are convinced, negate the presumption of right to life. The appellant is deserving of some other punishment than the ultimate."
Williams, Constable Anton Curry and Corporal Delroy Christie were on patrol in a marked police car in the area of Collins Avenue near Doctor's Hospital around 2 a.m. Only Curry and Christie were armed and Christie's police-issued firearm disappeared from the exhibit room at the Central Detective Unit.
They spotted a suspicious looking group of men in a Nissan Sentra that had been parked near a container on the eastern side of Deveaux Street
Two men got out of the car and were pursued by the police officers. After shots were heard from the back of the container, it was discovered that Constable Williams had been shot in the chest.
Flowers, 35, and Sylvester Aritis, 30, were tried in 2010 for the murder of officer Williams and the attempted murder of Curry.
Flowers was the only one convicted of the murder, while Aritis was convicted of the attempted murder.
Then Senior Justice Anita Allen sentenced Flowers to death and Aritis to 20 years imprisonment.
At the appeal, Jerone Roberts, who represented both convicts, argued that an identification parade should have been held and the judge should have discharged the jury after his two co-accused were acquitted.
The appellate panel said a line up would have been nothing more than a "formality" since Curry was related to Flowers and knew him. Curry said he knew Aritis three years prior to the incident and saw him often.
The Court disagreed that the jury should have been discharged after Raymond Thompson and Shawn Feaster were acquitted after no case submissions as they were both arrested in the car after Williams was shot. The court said the evidence clearly showed that Flowers was the killer. The Court ruled that the non-production of Christie's gun had no bearing on who killed Williams.
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Franklyn Williams appeared for the Crown.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian