Two more cops who were accused of being members of a so-called Clarendon Police ‘death squad’ were freed of murder before the Home Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon.
A seven member jury returned the not guilty verdict in favour of Corporal Kevin Adams and Constable Jerome Whyte.
They were accused of the fatal shooting of Anthony Toby Trought in Race Track, Clarendon seven years ago.
Corporal Adams and Constable Whyte were charged by INDECOM which accused them of the extrajudicial killing of Mr. Trought on February 12, 2012.
Mr. Trought was shot during an operation, targeting men involved in the drugs for guns trade between Jamaica and Haiti.
In their unsworn statement to the jury, the two cops denied that they murdered Mr. Trought.
The policemen told the jury that on the day of the incident, cops intercepted a vehicle suspected to be transporting guns.
During a shoot out, Mr. Trought was killed.
A firearm was reportedly seized.
On January 2, three other policemen accused of being a part of the ‘death squad’ were freed after the prosecution’s case crumbled in the Supreme Court.
Prosecutors for Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) sought to enter into evidence statements from a witness who had died.
Attorney-at-law K. Churchill Neita, who represented Constable Whyte, spoke with RJR News shortly after the verdict was delivered, revealing that the jurors came to a decision in 45 minutes and “obviously accepted that it was a killing that was quite justified in the circumstances.”
The defence had argued that the police officers, in the lawful execution of their duty, had come under gunfire and responded, which resulted in the death of the deceased.