Mario Deane trial verdict | Families celebrate defendants’ release

WESTERN BUREAU:

There was no restraining the joy of the relatives of Marvin Orr and Adrian Morgan, the men who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in relation to the 2014 death of 31-year-old Mario Deane, after a judge ordered that they be released from custody yesterday.

“The usual starting point in the guidelines [for sentencing] is five years, and in this instance, come Monday, August 3, they will have served six years. The sentence of the court is five years and six months at hard labour, and the sentence is already served, so they should be released forthwith,” High Court Justice Glen Brown had ruled in the St James Circuit Court minutes earlier.

Outside of the courtroom, Morgan’s mother, Lorna Williams, was overcome with emotion.

“I am feeling so glad. I don’t have no words to say. I thank everybody who come at the court. I thank the lawyer, and I thank the judge for what he has done. Six years mi pickney suffer inna jail, and I thank you, thank you very much, for what you have done today, and everybody who stand by our side each time we coming to court, I thank you very much,” Williams said jubilantly.

Claudia Bartley, Orr’s sister-in-law, was more reserved but no less grateful for his release.

“I’m so overwhelmed, I can’t explain it. I know his (Orr’s) mother can sleep tonight because this thing has been going on too long, and she can finally have a good night’s sleep. Thank God! I’m just overwhelmed,” said Bartley.

STRICT SCHEDULES

During the sentencing hearing, Morgan’s attorney, Franklin Haliburton, recommended strict medication schedules for both men, who are said to suffer from a mental condition.

“Having read the social enquiry reports, we must say that except for substance abuse, they are good men. Their communities have vouched for them as not being troublemakers,” said Haliburton. “When they do not take their medication, we see a relapse in their behaviours. That says to me that they need to be placed on a proper regime where they can receive their monthly medication.”

Mario Deane was brutally beaten on August 3, 2014, while being held for possession of a ganja spliff at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay, St James. He died in hospital three days later.

Orr and Morgan, who were also in custody at the lock-up at the time, were subsequently charged with murder.

They both entered guilty pleas to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Wednesday after being deemed fit to plea.

A third defendant, Damion Cargill, was judged unfit to plea in July 2017 and released into his family’s care.

Christopher Thomas