Murder conviction quashed

(CNS): William Martinez McLaughlin walked free from the Grand Court Friday, when his second murder conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal. The man who had served four and a half years in jail for killing Brian Rankine Carter (20) in April 2008 was acquitted and the court said there would be no new trial. McLaughlin was tried twice for the murder, based almost entirely on the evidence of Jason Hinds, who was with McLaughlin on the night of the killing. He claimed he had seen McLaughlin viciously attack Carter with a machete and pleaded guiltyto accessory after the fact. The appeal court found the jury had been misdirected, however, over what evidence, if any, existed to support Hinds’ account of the killing, leaving the question open as to which one of the two men had in fact weilded the machete.