Accused killer Alburn Plunkett had been on remand for almost two years but tonight he is a free man after the murder case against him was thrown out today. And it’s for the same reason that so many other cases have been withdrawn: key witnesses refused to testify after their lives were threatened.
This morning in front of Justice Adolph Lucas, Nadine Palacio, the Crown Counsel for the DPP’s office, told the court that she has no evidence and with that she entered a nolle pros motion. And so, after checking on his status at the prison, Plunkett was released from police custody and walked out the court free of all charges
While Plunkett is free from the murder for now, the charges can be reinstated at any time if new evidence or cooperating witnesses come forward. Plunkett was fingered as the gunman who killed Cassius Meyers on the evening of December 8, 2006 near the Conch Shell Bay Fish Market. It was a public execution as Meyers was shot nine times, the majority of the shots were from point blank range after Meyers had already fallen to the ground.
It happened at 7:15 in the evening, within plain view of passers-by and onlookers. Key witness Jason Usher was one of those onlookers; he was also a friend to Meyers. At the time, he told police he was standing across the street when he saw Plunkett and another man ride up on bicycle, pull a gun from his thigh area and shoot Meyers multiple times.
That was what he told police, but today in court he didn’t appear to testify, and that was the end of the case.
It is of note that when Meyers was killed, the informed speculation also was that it could have been because he was a witness to the murder of Jose Noe Barrow. One of the men accused of killing Barrow has also walked because of insufficient evidence.
