The Tribune

By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE Court of Appeal has overturned the 2019 murder conviction of Tyrone James Francis and replaced it with manslaughter. The court, in a ruling posted on its website on Thursday, has remitted the matter to the trial judge for resentencing.

It is alleged that on October 10, 2009, around 2am, Francis, while driving a silver Neon Dodge south on Blue Hill Road, struck three pedestrians. The men were hit from behind and one was killed.

Johnathan Linden received the brute force of the collision and was carried away on the hood. Francis is said to have swerved off of the road and crashed his vehicle into a building with Linden still on top of the car.

On July 17, 2019, Francis was convicted of murder for the death of Linden and two counts of causing harm for hitting the other two men, Elvardo Johnson and Jerome Charlton.

He was sentenced to 35 years in prison on November 19, 2019, for murder and one year for the offence of causing harm. One month later, on December 10, his lawyer filed an appeal against his conviction and sentence on the grounds that, among other things, the case was weak and tenuous and there was no proven intent.

Marianne Cadet, along with Brendalee Rae, appeared as counsel for Francis and argued that the judge erred when she directed the jury there was no evidence to raise the issue of manslaughter. They argued the verdict was unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The Court of Appeal noted: “Appeal allowed. The conviction and sentence for murder is quashed and a conviction of manslaughter is substituted in its place. The matter is remitted to the trial judge for resentencing. In The Bahamas, murder requires a specific intent to kill. Unlike other jurisdictions an intent to cause grievous bodily harm is not sufficient. Therefore, if on the evidence it is possible for a jury to conclude that the appellant acted unjustifiably but had no intent to kill but simply to injure, then manslaughter should have been left to the jury.

“The judge fell into error in not leaving manslaughter to the jury. This is a material error that makes the verdict of murder unsafe. The jury should have been assisted by the judge in directing them that even if they rejected the appellant’s evidence that it was an accident, but were not satisfied that he intended to kill Linden, then an alternative verdict of manslaughter was one that they could properly reach.”

During Francis’ trial the crown’s case was that this was “a deliberate attack” arising from an altercation earlier that morning when Linden, Johnson, Charlton and Francis were at a takeaway restaurant also located on Blue Hill Road.

Francis and his legal team never denied the car he was driving hit the three pedestrians. He told police it was an accident and he lost control of his car after a rock was thrown at it. He said he never intended to kill anyone.

Linden’s official cause of death is blunt force injuries to the head and the abdomen. The head injuries caused tissue disruption and bleeding to the brain and skull, leading to hemorrhage or bleeding or skull fracture. The injuries to his abdomen caused injuries to his intestine and to his kidney with bleeding into the abdomen. There were other injuries to his extremities to include his left lung.

Justice Sir Michael Barnett, Justice Jon Isaacs and Justice Roy Jones presided.