The jury hearing the case of 27 year old Harrison Smith, who was charged with the murder of 47 year old homeless man and car washer Lionel “Sleepy” Welcome, was discharged today. And it’s because the witness for the prosecution, Lynton Sutherland testified that he saw Smith in the area when Welcome was fatally stabbed in December of 2007. In his testimony Sutherland said that he had seen Smith in prison prior to the incident.
Justice Adolph Lucas ruled that the statement was very prejudicial and that the evidence against Smith was purely circumstantial. As a result, Justice Lucas discharged the jury and Smith. Smith will likely get a retrial in the next session of the Supreme Court. Until then he remains on remand.
Welcome, a homeless car washer, was stabbed in the heart of the city on Albert Street near Hofius at two in the morning of December 12, 2007, and died upon reaching the KHMH. This is Smith’s second murder charge, as he was acquitted for the murder of Reynato Logan, a man who was shot and killed in August of 2006.
