By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A SUPREME Court jury on Friday afternoon convicted two brothers standing trial for the murder and armed robbery of an off-duty policeman.
After the jury concluded its two-hour deliberations on five weeks’ worth of evidence into the December 4, 2014, fatal shooting and accosting of Sgt Wayne Rolle for a $700 Samsung smartphone, prosecutor Uel Johnson informed Justice Ian Winder of the Crown’s intent to seek the death penalty for the crimes committed by 26-year-old Dion Bethel and 30-year-old Kevin McKenzie.
The 2011 amendment to the Penal Code provides that any murder committed in the course of/or in furtherance of a robbery, rape, kidnapping, terrorist act, or any other felony is punishable by death, with no explicit requirement of an intent to cause death. A felony is defined as any offence which is punishable by at least three years’ imprisonment.
Sgt Rolle was in a vehicle with a female friend on Durham Street off Montrose Avenue when he was shot in the head by two armed men.
Police were able to recover the stolen smartphone from 19-year-old Kendira Farrington, who testified in court that she had purchased the item for $150 from McKenzie two days after the incident.
The cellular phone’s identification number, found on the battery of most cellphones, matched that of the one purchased by the deceased member of the police’s Mobile Unit.
Crown prosecutors produced a videotaped interview of McKenzie in police custody acknowledging that he sold the cellphone to Farrington, but at a much later date than alleged by police.
Police also produced an alleged confession in which Bethel owned up to his involvement in the robbery and subsequent killing.
Both Bethel and McKenzie alleged that the confessions were obtained as a result of severe beatings while in custody and were not given voluntarily. Both denied any involvement in Sgt Rolle’s murder and armed robbery.
Monique Gomez and Donna Dorsett-Major represented the brothers, who were remanded to the Department of Correctional Services to await sentencing on January 25.
Cordell Frazier prosecuted the case with Mr Johnson.
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