By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
THE killer of 11-year-old Marco Archer has been told he is out of time to challenge his murder conviction.
The Court of Appeal yesterday ruled Kofhe Goodman’s application to challenge his murder conviction was “out of time”, after denying his counsel’s request for a further adjournment.
Yesterday, Goodman tuned into a virtual hearing before the appellate tribunal of Justices Jon Isaacs, Roy Jones and Sir Michael Barnett. The hearing transpired eight months after the panel ordered he be given a court-appointed lawyer to contest his conviction and 55-year sentence for the killing of Marco Archer in 2011.
At a previous sitting in March, public defender Stanley Rolle asked the panel to adjourn the matter so he could have an opportunity to review transcripts from Goodman’s first trial.
Yesterday, Mr Rolle said he asked the court to assist him in finding the address of Wayne Munroe, QC, the attorney who represented Goodman during his trial. Still, he said while he thought a request for the transcripts “went out sooner”, one was not sent until June 7. As a result, he asked the appellate justices for a “further adjournment” since the transcripts were a “necessary part” of Goodman’s appeal. Mr Rolle also said he spoke with Mr Goodman, who agreed the transcripts were “important and a must”.
Still, Crown attorney Garvin Gaskin objected to Mr Rolle’s request for an adjournment, on the grounds the appellant did not file a “notice of application for an extension within which to appeal”.
As a result, Sir Barnett told Mr Rolle there was nothing before the court for them to “adjudicate or grant an adjournment upon”.
He also noted there was “no application for an extension of time” and told Mr Rolle the appeal that was before him was “out of time”.
“In the circumstances, we’re just going to take the matter out of the list and you have to take whatever steps you consider necessary on behalf of your client,” he said.
“And if and when you take those steps, we will address whatever issues are raised by whatever application you may make.”
In 2018, Goodman, now 43, was sentenced to 55 years imprisonment during a retrial for the murder of 11-year-old Marco Archer.
Police discovered Archer’s body in bushes behind an apartment complex near Goodman’s residence in September 2011.
Goodman was initially convicted of Archer’s killing in 2013 and sentenced to death by hanging, however the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction and sentence and ordered a retrial.
Goodman was again convicted of the murder on May 30, 2017.
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