Man to be retried in kidnapping case

A man on Thursday won a retrial three years after the Court of Appeal upheld his convictions for kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery.

The Court of Appeal exercised its jurisdiction to reopen Daniel Coakley’s appeal after three of his co-accused were granted retrials based “on the failure of the trial judge to make a proper inquiry of the jury after the altercation between the forewoman and the alternate juror”.

Coakley and his co-accused Cordero Saunders, Zintworn Duncombe and James Johnson were tried together for the murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery of Shane Gardiner and Tishka Braynen.

Coakley was acquitted of the murders but convicted of the other charges.

After the Court of Appeal affirmed Johnson’s convictions, his co-accused appealed on the basis “that there was a material irregularity which affected the safety of all the verdicts”.

The court overturned their convictions and ordered new trials in 2020.

Based on that development, Coakley’s lawyer, Christina Galanos, asked the court to exercise its jurisdiction to reopen the appeal on the ground that was argued at his appeal.

Prosecutor Patrick Sweeting opposed the application, insisting that the court lacked the authority to rehear the appeal.

The court, however, disagreed.

Justices of Appeal Sir Michael Barnett, Milton Evans and Carolita Bethell agreed that Coakley’s appeal had to be allowed to “avoid a grave injustice”.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/man-to-be-retried-in-kidnapping-case/