Dickie Bradley Breaks Down Criminal Charge of Manslaughter

Dickie Bradley

As has been reported, former Police Corporal Kareem Martinez has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of fourteen-year-old Laddie Gillett.  And as the trial winds down and a decision will soon be made, what are the possible outcomes and the penalties associated with the charge? Attorney Dickie Bradley breaks this down. 

Dickie Bradley, Attorney-at-law

“The charge is manslaughter – not manslaughter by negligence. Manslaughter is the next charge under murder and for clarity, murder means that you intentionally wanted to kill and you killed. Manslaughter is you wanted to harm someone and the harm end up causing death. Manslaughter by negligence – yo di do fool. Yo dah like wah driver who go drink and noh know if yo di see two, three images, which one dah di correct one or you’re recklessly driving fast or yo got wah gun di fool around and it go off – that’s manslaughter by negligence. I will tell you a judge in the supreme court who had a case from Punta Gorda in which the common-law husband had his firearm on the desk when he got up out of bed, he said that his common-law was stooping down picking up her clothes and when ih get up, ih buck against he and the gun gone off. He was taken to court for manslaughter for negligence. It was murder first, but eventually it became clear you can’t prove that he wanted to kill because they were in a semi-isolated area; and he is the one that called the hospital, called the cops, called people fi help ahn put ahn ina di vehicle and hurry ker ahn. That’s not the behaviour of a murderer. A murderer mi wah kill the person and bury ahn ina wah backroom or ker ahn go throw ahn somewhere around John Smith Road. The point I am making to you is that the judge in that trial had said; don’t know where we get this idea that when dah manslaughter by negligence, yo just pay wah money and go bout [yo business]. That’s not really how justice and the law operates. A life has been lost. That judge sentenced that person to prison. And then still turned around and charged him compensation to the family, which compensation, I think Javier Chan, the senior crown counsel who led the case, is going to bring to the attention of the judge.”