In a major ruling from the Court of Appeal, two men convicted of murder in 2018 have had their convictions overturned. Marvin Neal and Jaroud Lamb were serving life sentences for the 2013 murder of Steven Valencia in Santa Elena Town. But today, the Court of Appeal ruled that the only evidence used to convict them, caution statements given to police, should never have been admitted in court. The judgment highlights serious concerns about how those statements were obtained. Both men claimed they were threatened, beaten, and pressured into confessing. The court found that the trial judge failed to properly assess these claims and that the prosecution did not prove the statements were given freely and voluntarily. In Neal’s case, the court noted troubling inconsistencies in police testimony and a lack of explanation for why he would confess when no other evidence linked him to the crime. In Lamb’s case, the court criticized the use of a Justice of the Peace who couldn’t recall the event and raised concerns about the conditions of his detention. With no other evidence tying the men to the murder, the court quashed their convictions and sentences, bringing an end to a legal battle that has lasted over a decade.
