Wrongly Convicted Database Record

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Randall Dixon

Years Imprisoned:

7

Charge:

Murder

Sentence:

Death

Year Convicted:

1998

Year Cleared:

2003

Location of Trial:

Jamaica

Result:

Judicially Exonerated Released

Summary of Case:

Co-defendant of Mark Sangster. Both men were wrongly convicted on July 9, 1998 of murdering a policeman during the robbery of a a Western Union branch in Spanish Town, Jamaica of $18 million in September 1996. Their convictions were based on their identification in a line-up by two policemen who witnessed the robbery. Sangster was sentenced to life for non-capital murder, and Dixon was sentenced to death by hanging for capital murder. After their convictions the men learned that the prosecution had failed to disclose to them that they did not appear on the film of the robbers recorded by a security camera in the Western Union branch. Eyewitnesses saw four robbers, and neither man was among the four robbers captured by the security camera. The men appealed their convictions to the Privy Council in London, which is the highest court of appeal for Jamaica, and on October 7 2002, their convictions were set aside and their sentences were quashed. On October 8, 2003, Jamaica's Court of Appeal ordered judgments of acquittal for both men and they were released after seven years of wrongful imprisonment. In 2005 the men sued the government of Jamaica for false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, breach of their constitutional rights and for exemplary and aggravated damages. In October 2007 Mark Sangster was awarded $13,450,500, and Randal Dixon was awarded $13,192,500.

Conviction Caused By:

False eyewitness identification by two policeman during a line-up.

Innocence Proved By:

The men appealed their convictions to the Privy Council in London, which is the highest court of appeal for Jamaica, and on October 7 2002, their convictions were set aside and their sentences were quashed. On October 8, 2003, Jamaica's Court of Appeal ordered judgments of acquittal for both men and they were released after seven years of wrongful imprisonment.

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

$13,192,500

Was Perpetrator Found?

Age When Imprisoned:

31

Age When Released:

38

Information Source 1:

Men get huge settlements for false imprisonment, By Paul Henry, The Jamica Observer, October 12, 2007

Information Location 1:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/html/20071012T010000-0500_128285_OBS_MEN_GET_HUGE_SETTLEMENTS_FOR_FALSE_IMPRISONMENT.asp

Information Source 2:

Mark Sangster and Randall Dixon v Regina, Jamaica COA70_81_1998

Information Location 2:

http://www.sc.gov.jm/Judgments/coa/COA70_81_1998.pdf

Information Source 3:

Mark Sangster and Randall Dixon v The Queen, Privy Council Appeal no. 8 of 2002 (October 7, 2002)

Information Location 3:

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:dV72h2n-LVMJ:www.privy-council.org.uk/files/other/sangster-rtf.rtf+%22Mark+Sangster%22+jamaica&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org