The Tribune

By Nico Scavella

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

KOFHE Goodman’s sentence for killing 11-year-old Marco Archer nearly six years ago will be handed down by a Supreme Court judge in two weeks.

Justice Carolita Bethel will sentence Goodman on March 15, almost a year after he was unanimously convicted by a jury in his retrial over the September 2011 killing.

It was alleged that between September 23 and 28, 2011, Goodman, of Yorkshire Drive, caused the death of Archer, who disappeared from Brougham Street on September 23 and was found dead days later.

Archer, a sixth-grade student of Columbus Primary, was reported missing by his family after failing to return home from a neighbourhood store where he went to purchase candy. His family begged for help in ensuring that he was returned home safely.

However, on in September 2011, police discovered Archer’s body in bushes behind an apartment complex on Yorkshire Drive.

Goodman was initially convicted of Archer’s killing on August 2, 2013, and sentenced to death by hanging by Justice Bernard Turner on October 29, 2013.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction and sentence, ordering a retrial for as soon as possible because of the “lurking doubt about the fairness of the trial” brought on by adverse pre-trial publicity, misconduct of Goodman’s then defence lawyer Geoffrey Farquharson and the former jury’s irregularity.

Goodman was re-convicted of the murder on May 30, 2017.

When Justice Bethel asked prosecutor Cordell Frazier at the time if it was the Crown’s intention to seek the highest penalty on the law book, Ms Frazier indicated that they were seeking the discretionary death penalty and subsequently requested that a psychiatric and probation report be prepared for the court’s consideration.

Goodman, however, questioned the necessity of this given that he had “been through this before”.

“Can the court bypass this? I don’t want the long delay. You know I appealing both conviction and sentence,” he added at the time.

Goodman was represented by Wayne Munroe, QC, Tommel Roker, Alex Morley and Ryszard Humes. Garvin Gaskin, director of public prosecutions, represented the Crown with the assistance of Ms Frazier and Rosalee Ferguson.