The Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for two men convicted of the brutal murder of Philip Gaitor Jr.
In a majority decision, Justices of Appeal Abdulai Conteh and Christopher Blackman found that Renaldo Bonaby and Renaldo Armbrister did not have a fair trial, because the trial judge K. Neville Adderley  told the jury that their confession statements "were admissible" and "voluntarily made."  Bonaby was sentenced to death and Armbrister received a life sentence.
However, the court's president Anita Allen opined that the irregularity in the judge's summation to the jury did not undermine the fairness of the trial.  Gaitor was burned alive while bound and gagged in his car.  The fire was so intense that only Gaitor's skull and torso remained and he had to be identified by DNA testing.
On Monday, the court quashed the murder convictions of Edwin Bauld and Wilfred McPhee for the death of Cpl. Eddison Bain because another judge, Acting Justice Jethro Miller, made the same mistake. Director of Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen conceded that the convictions could not be supported owing to the judge's error.
In the case of Bonaby and Armbrister, Justice Adderley did not discharge the jury after defense counsel pointed out his error.
Instead, the judge attempted to correct his error by telling the jurors that it was their duty to decide whether the confession statements were voluntary.
Murrio Ducille, who appeared for Armbrister at the trial and the appeal, told Justice Adderley that he had compounded the error by his statement.
In a judgment delivered by Justice of Appeal Conteh, he said, "It is manifest to me that at the stage of his summing up, when he stated the outcome of the voir dire and his determination thereon, the learned trial judge had implanted in the jurors' mind that the inculpating statements allegedly made by the appellants to the police were true and admissible. The obvious corollary of this was that the appellants were to be disbelieved.  This, in my estimation, could only work prejudicially to the fair trial of the appellants and impact on the safety of their convictions."
Conteh said the trial judge did not remedy the error by telling the jury to ignore his initial disclosure.
Roger Gomez represented Bonaby at the appeal.  Carlson Shurland appeared on his behalf at the trial.

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