By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A NEW lawyer must be appointed to represent a man who is challenging his conviction and sentence before the Appeals Court for a failed home invasion that turned deadly.
James Mombranche, 20, of Winder’s Terrace, appeared in the Court of Appeal yesterday for his scheduled appeal hearing in the February 28, 2011, murder of Charles Chrysostome.
However, Mombranche, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was informed by Justice Anita Allen that his previous lawyer “can no longer represent you or anyone else.”
“Another attorney will be appointed for you and you should be called down in the very near future,” she said.
In Mombranche’s previous appearance in the appellate court, lawyer Sonia Timothy had held the brief for Fayne Thompson who was assigned by the court to represent the 20-year-old in his appeal.
However, Mr Thompson has since been disbarred from practising law for failure to repay a client.
Mombranche, in February 2012, was found guilty with Rodney Johnson, 21, of Garden Hills; and Ricardo Brown, 24, of Gilbert Street.
The men had broken into Chrysostome’s Domingo Heights apartment with intent to rob him on the night of February 28, 2011.
Mombranche, the youngest of the three, was found to have fired the shot that killed the phone card vendor.
The three maintained their innocence throughout trial, but were unanimously convicted by a jury.
While all three men were sentenced to 20 years in prison for attempted armed robbery, Johnson and Brown were sentenced to 60 years for murder. In the case of the 17-year-old Mombranche, the court recommended at that time that his file come up for review after 20 years.
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