The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE Crown’s appeal against a widow’s acquittal for her husband’s murder “will get nowhere”, her attorney told The Tribune yesterday.

Murrio Ducille was responding to reports of Crown prosecutors lodging an appeal against the acquittals of his clients, 44-year-old widow Renee Sherman and 22-year-old Cordero Bethel, concerning the death of Stephen Sherman.

“It’s their right to file an appeal, except the fact is that I think the appeal they have filed is misconceived,” he said.

“I’ve never known someone to appeal a judge’s ruling on a Voi Dire. So in so far as that is concerned, my view presently is that it’s a non-starter and that will get nowhere.”

Mr Sherman, an assistant manager at the Royal Bank of Canada in Palmdale, was shot in the head when he pulled up to his Yamacraw Shores home on the evening of February 17, 2012.

He was robbed of his cell phone before being shot. His niece, who was in the car with him, was also robbed.

His wife, along with 22-year-olds Janaldo Farrington and Cordero Bethel, both of Pinewood Gardens, were charged with conspiring to commit murder.

Farrington and Bethel were together charged with the murder and the two armed robberies while the widow was charged with aiding and abetting the murder of her husband. All three denied the charges.

On October 3, Justice Roy Jones ordered a jury to return unanimous not guilty verdicts for 44-year-old widow Renee Sherman and 22-year-old Cordero Bethell for to legal reasons.

Only Farrington was left to answer to the charges against him because of an alleged confession he gave to police on February 24, 2012.

Days later, the jury accepted that Farrington had confessed to carrying out Stephen Sherman’s “execution” for pay when they unanimously found him guilty of murder and conspiring to commit murder and a third charge of armed robbery concerning Mr Sherman.

The jury was split 8-4 on the other armed robbery charge concerning Sherman’s niece, but the majority guilty verdict was accepted in law.