Police Constable Convicted For Manslaughter Freed On Appeal
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The Constable, Orlando Lamont was released after almost three years in prison.
Lamont was reportedly convicted for the controversial shooting death of Everton Parchment during a traffic stop. The deceased, Mr. Parchment, a supervisor at the Jamaican Urban Transit Company (JUTC) was among a group of persons returning from a wedding reception when they were signalled to stop by the police.
The Constable, who was placed on trial on two occasions for the fatal shooting, claimed his gun went off accidentally. At his 2011 trial, the jury was unable to return a verdict. As a result, a retrial was ordered and in 2014 he was convicted of manslaughter.
He appealed and in its written judgment on Friday, the Court of Appeal wrote that Constable Lamont has undergone the ordeal of two trials through no fault of his own and has served three quarters of the prison sentence imposed on him. It said bearing those facts in mind it is not in the interest of justice that a new trial be ordered.
