PHILIPSBURG--The appeals in the cases of three men convicted of the murders of Michael and Thelma King in their Cupecoy condominium on September 19, 2012, will be heard on December 12.

 

The hearing will take a full day, the Joint Court announced Thursday during a so-called procedural hearing.

The Court of First Instance sentenced Jamaican national Meyshane Keymar Johnson (30) to life imprisonment on May 8, for what the Judge referred to as "cruel, "inexplicable" and "uncalled for" murders.

 

Jeremiah Chevon Mills (18) from St. Maarten, who committed the crimes while on probation for another robbery, was acquitted of the murder charge and sentenced to 28 years as an accomplice, while Guyanese Jamal Jefferson Woolford (21) was also acquitted of murder and sentenced to 22 years as an accessory.

 

All three were also sentenced for their involvement in the robbery at Happy Star Chinese Restaurant on September 19, 2012; theft with violence of the Kings, which resulted in their deaths; deprivation of liberty of Thelma King and laundering of the proceeds of both armed robberies. Johnson, who worked as a security guard, was acquitted of charges that he stole jewellery from the Kings.

 

The Kings were raided while they were asleep in their Ocean Club's beachside apartment. Michael King was killed by two cuts to his throat, a stab wound to his back and three deep stab wounds in his neck, which cut the carotid. His wife Thelma was killed by two slashes, which cut her throat and trachea.

 

Thursday's brief procedural hearing mainly dealt with a request for additional psychological and psychiatric assessments of Johnson's state of mind. The request was filed by attorney-at-law Brenda Brooks, who deemed a more thorough investigation and a possible clinical observation of importance in connection with her client's past "psychotic episodes."

Solicitor-General Taco Stein did not deem an additional report necessary, but the Joint Court commissioned it anyway. Johnson promised he would cooperate.

 

Before closing the sitting, the Joint Court scheduled the appeal hearing for December 12. It was said that a hearing at an earlier date was not possible due to the Court's full agenda and also because the requested reports would not be available any sooner than December.

 

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