The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to eight years in prison after changing his plea to guilty during the continuation of his armed robbery trial yesterday.

Moments after Justice Indra Charles delivered a ruling concerning a legal issue that was debated in the absence of the jury, 31-year-old Frederick Green, of Carmichael Road, announced to the court that he wished to change his plea.

Green faced a charge of armed robbery in connection with the September 18, 2011 hold-up of R & R Laundromat.

It was alleged that Green, while armed with a firearm, held up an employee and made off with cash.

He initially denied the charge and pleaded not guilty.

He was represented by attorney Calvin Seymour, while Koschina Marshall and Desiree Ferguson prosecuted the case.

The trial, which began last week, was scheduled to resume with key witnesses giving evidence in the case.

However, following the conclusion of legal discussions in the absence of the jury, Green told the court that he wished to change his plea.

After a brief consultation with his attorney Calvin Seymour, the jury was called in and Green pleaded guilty to the offence and was then formally convicted.

The judge, after taking into consideration submissions from the defence and prosecution, sentenced Green to eight years at Her Majesty’s Prison and said the sentence would take effect from the date of his remand, September 22, 2011.

Yesterday’s sentencing came a little more than six months after Green was acquitted of the November 20, 2009 daylight robbery of tourists and a tour-guide during an eco-tour of Earth Village.

In January, on the direction of Justice Roy Jones, a jury unanimously acquitted Green and 25-year-old Dekota Von Lockhart, of Churchill Avenue, of six counts of armed robbery and three counts of receiving.

The direction to the jury followed a ruling on closed discussions between lawyers Dorsey McPhee and Roger Gomez II, and prosecutor Vernal Collie.