The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN sentenced to 15 years in jail for the shooting of two Atlantis security guards at Marina Village has to wait seven weeks before his appeal can be heard in the Court of Appeal.

Clarence Smith, 23, appeared in the appellate court yesterday to contest two attempted murder convictions for the shooting of Dwayne De Costa, 36, and 33-year-old Troy Feaste on October 31, 2009.

However, his lawyer Murrio Ducille, informed the court that he had not received the trial transcripts and was not in a position to proceed until he had them.

While the court noted it had the transcripts, it adjourned the matter to May 5 for substantive hearing.

Smith, of Dolphin Drive, was convicted of the charges by a nine-member jury in October 2012.

In January 2013, Senior Justice Jon Isaacs noted that the offences and circumstances in which they were committed were serious. However, he told Clarence Smith that his case did not warrant life imprisonment, the maximum punishment.

Smith was sentenced to 16 years on each count of attempted murder, but the prison terms were to run concurrently.

However, the sentence was reduced to 15 years and three months once it was revealed that Smith had already spent nine months in prison.