The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net MURDER convict Maxo Tido will reappear in the Supreme Court tomorrow morning for resentencing, more than half a year after his death sentence was overturned by the Privy Council. His last appearance before the Supreme Court was in November 2011, but resentencing was delayed due to the absence of both his attorney and a necessary document. Tido, who was sentenced to die in 2006, saw this decision overturned by the London-based appeal court in June of 2011. On March 20, 2006, a jury convicted Tido of murdering 16-year-old Donnell Conover in 2002. Her body was found off Cowpen Road battered and bruised, her skull crushed. Evidence also revealed that parts of Ms Conover's body were burned after her death. A month after his conviction, then Senior Justice Anita Allen (now Court of Appeal President) ruled that the crime committed by Tido warranted the death penalty. The decision came days after the Privy Council ruled that the mandatory death sentence in place up until that point in the Bahamas was not constitutional. In 2009, the Committee for the Prerogative of Mercy decided the law should take it's course, as Tido's case was not one that warranted mercy. However, Tido appealed to the Privy Council, the highest court of appeal recognised in the Bahamas, which ruled that the killing of Conover did not warrant execution. In his last appearance before Senior Justice Jon Isaacs on November 4, 2011, the former death row convict told the judge he had hired an attorney and did not know why that attorney was not present. He said he did not wish to proceed without representation. On the question of Tido's probation report, prosecutor Jillian Williams said the document was not ready, noting that prison officials were responsible for preparing it. The judge said five years should have been sufficient time for the report to be completed. He said the document is crucial to determining the appropriate sentence. The resentencing begins at 10am.