Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
PHIPPS
FORMER MATTHEWS Lane area leader 48-year-old Donald 'Zekes' Phipps who was convicted on April 12 of double murder is to be sentenced today.
Phipps could get the death penalty because he was convicted of two counts of murder. However, some lawyers are of the view that he will not be sentenced to hang because the evidence did not disclose who fired the fatal shots.
Some lawyers are optimistic that Phipps will be sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve between 30-40 years before he is eligible for parole.
The sentencing has been stalled within the past four weeks for various reasons.
OUT OF TIME
After Phipps was convicted in the Home Circuit Court, sentencing was set for April 20, but on that day, de-fence lawyer K. Churchill Neita, Q.C., informed the court that the lawyers in the case did not have enough time to call character witnesses.
Mr. Justice Horace Marsh, who presided at the trial, put off the case to May 16. However, on that day, Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn informed the court that Mr. Justice Marsh was unavailable. The judge has been acting on the Court of Appeal Bench since April 28.
Mr. Justice Basil Reid, who presided in court on that day, adjourned the matter until today when it is expected that Mr. Justice Marsh will be available to sentence Phipps.
Phipps is to be sentenced for the murder of Rodney Leroy Farquharson and Dayton Williams, of Bayshore Park, east Kingston. The burnt bodies of the two men were discovered on April 15 in an open lot at Rose Lane near to Matthews Lane, downtown Kingston.
