The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN on death row for the murder of an 11-year-old boy will have his substantive appeal hearing before the Court of Appeal in two months.

Kofhe Goodman appeared before Justices Anita Allen, Neville Adderley and Jon Isaacs yesterday for a status hearing into the filing of documents necessary for his appeal against conviction and sentence concerning the September 2011 murder of Marco Archer, of Brougham Street.

Goodman is seeking a deferment of a retrial if the court were to allow the appeal against his murder conviction and death sentence on the grounds of publicity affecting the case.

Tommel Roker, who appeared for senior counsel Wayne Munroe, QC, informed the court that they had received the trial transcripts on February 26 and would be in a position to submit the court-ordered request transcript index by March 13.

Crown respondent and Director of Public Prosecutions Garvin Gaskin also said the Attorney General’s office had received transcripts on the same date.

He asked the court for a week in which to respond to the appellant’s transcript index.

The court ruled that the transcript  index for the appellant ought to be filed on or before March 16. The Crown must produce their transcript index on March 25.

The substantive hearing, Justice Allen added, will take place on May 7.

The appellate court put the new “transcript index” measure in place, effective from January 23, due to cases like Goodman’s, whose trial lasted four months and had transcripts exceeding 1,000 pages.