Anthony Morrison, who was implicated in the brutal murder of his reputed wife, Donna Thomas, six years ago was recently freed after three successive juries could not agree on a formal determination of guilt or innocence.
This was confirmed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) which indicated that the most recent hung jury resulted in the indictment being nolle prosequi by the DPP because the accused already had two previous hung jury verdicts – April 2014 and December 2015.
In May, a 12 member jury could not for the third time determine whether or not Morrison was guilty of murdering the woman whose body was found in a pool of blood at their Cross and D’Urban Streets, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown apartment on Independence Day 2012.
He always denied killing his partner but had admitted that they argued in the moments prior to her death. After three hours of deliberations last month, 9 jurors felt that he was guilty and 3 others not guilty but this verdict was unacceptable to the court since at least 10 would need to agree.
After the forewoman had declined further directions, presiding Judge Sandhill Kissoon informed a shocked Morrison that he would need to await another trial despite it being his third trial. He could have been released sooner had his attorney Maxwell McKay informed Justice Kissoon that it was the third trial. The former accused was briefly remanded.
Government Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh had given the cause of Thomas’ death as asphyxiation due to compression to the neck, compounded by blunt force trauma to the head, saying that she had 16 incised wounds to one hand, while the other hand had six. These were said to be defensive wounds.
However, Morrison has maintained his innocence during previous High Court trials in 2014 and 2015.
