Soldier gets death penalty for four murders

KINGSTON – Thirty-three-year-old Jamaica Defence Force soldier Leslie Moodie has been handed the death penalty after his June 28 conviction for the murder of four men in the Diamond Lounge Gaming Club at Washington Boulevard in St Andrew.Justice Horace Marsh, in passing sentence on Thursday, said the murders were exceptional and extreme and there was nothing to show that Moodie was remorseful or there was any possibility of reform.Moodie’s lawyers told The Gleaner that he was going to appeal the convictions and death sentence.No hanging has taken place in Jamaica since 1988.Marsh pointed out that even after Moodie was convicted by the jury, he was still maintaining he was innocent, as outlined in the social enquiry and psychiatric reports.Defence lawyers Pierre Rogers and Michael Deans had made impassioned pleas for the judge to impose a sentence of life imprisonment. They argued that on the night of the incident, Moodie was provoked and was not in charge of his faculties because he had been drinking heavily. (Jamaica Gleaner)