Three coroner's inquests found Earskine Durrant (Buck) Burrows and Larry Tacklyn guilty of five murders over the span of seven months, including the murder of Governor Sir Richard Sharples.

But the legal battle had only just begun, it was now up to a jury of their peers to find them guilty in three separate Supreme Court trials.

Burrows stands trial for political murders

In June 1976 Burrows stood trial first. He was tried jointly for killing Police Commissioner George Duckett in 1972 and murdering Sir Richard and Captain Hugh Sayers, the Government House Aide-de-Camp, in 1973.

Burrows refused to plead to the charges against him. A plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.

Having also declined all offers of legal assistance and asking Bermudian Puisne Judge Dr. Earle Seaton to dismiss former Solicitor General Peter Smith — who had been appointed a "friend of the court" to safeguard his legal rights — Burrows arrived in Supreme Court clutching a Bible as prosecutor John Marriage, QC, outlined the case against him.

Midway through his trial Burrows took responsibility for the three murders in two handwritten letters addressed to Mr. Marriage and provided details about the Government House murders that only those present could have known.

Burrows described the killings and wrote: "The motive for killing the Governor (his ADC was not our objective, he was shot only because he happened to be with the Governor at the time) was to seek to make the people, black people in particular, become aware of the evilness and wickedness of the colonialist system in the Island of Bermuda.

"Secondly, the motive was to show that these colonialists were just ordinary people like ourselves who eat, sleep and die just like anybody else and that we need not stand in fear or awe of them.

"Finally, the motive was to reveal to black people unto themselves.

"This refers to the revealed reactions of many black people during the Governor's funeral, when black people were seen to be standing with tears in their eyes, crying for a man who when he was alive didn't care if they lived or died and here they were crying for a white Governor and yet when many of their own people pass away there is sometimes hardly a tear shed for them.

"This shows clearly the evil effects that the colonialist propaganda has had over the long years they have ruled over this little Island."

The jury deliberated for three hours and returned majority guilty verdicts of nine-to-three against Burrows on all four counts against him on July 6, 1976.

Mr. Justice Seaton asked Burrows if he had anything to say before sentence was passed.

Burrows, who was clutching a Bible, remained silent.

The judge then said: "Mr. Burrows the sentence is that you suffer death according to the law. Take him away."

Tacklyn stands trial for the Government House murders

Up next was Tacklyn's trial for his alleged role in the Government House killings. He was defended by one of Jamaica's finest criminal attorneys, Ian Ramsey, QC.

Mr. Ramsey set out to destroy the Crown's case against Tacklyn by methodically undermining the credibility of two key prosecution witnesses, men of dubious character.

Both witnesses said Tacklyn had confessed his involvement in the murders and stuck to their stories under intense cross examinations.

But Mr. Ramsey pointed out that both men had a litany of convictions attached to their names and that one of the main witnesses had been certified insane four times.

The defence case took just a minute with only Tacklyn taking the stand.

"My name is Larry Tacklyn," said the defendant. "I am a Bermudian. Jackson and Williams (the main witnesses) are telling lies against me. I never had such conversations with them. I am innocent of these charges, sir."

Earlier in the trial, Mr. Ramsey told the Supreme Court he accepted without reservation all of the technical, forensic and ballistics evidence presented by the Crown but said there was no proof that his client was present for the crimes.

After three and half hours of deliberation jurors returned majority not guilty verdicts on both murder counts.

Tacklyn, dressed in a grey suit, clenched his left fist and raised it in a Black Power salute.

"Thank Allah," he said. "Thank you people of Bermuda for helping me."

Burrows and Tacklyn stand trial for the Shopping Centre murders

The third trial saw Tacklyn and Burrows tried together for the Shopping Centre murders of Victor Rego and Mark Doe in 1973, a special jury was empaneled.

At the close of the Crown's case Tacklyn simply said he was not guilty, Burrows kept his silence and called no witnesses.

But the jury read much into the silence of the defence case and convicted both men.

They were sentenced to death.

Tacklyn Appeals

Tacklyn's appeal was handled by Jamaican QC Ian Ramsay.

Burrows chose not to appeal.

Putting forward mainly a technical defence, the lawyer made one statement that summed it up: "Burrows hung like an albatross around Tacklyn's neck."

The Appeal Judges rejected the appeal in April 1977.

Following that the Bermuda Prerogative of Mercy Committee advised that neither should be reprieved and the Acting Governor accepted their decision.

An application to the Privy Council for special leave to appeal was rejected in October.

In the summer of 1977, the acting Governor announced that both men would hang.

But it was not over yet. Dame Lois Browne Evans, who was also the leader of the Opposition Progressive Labour Party, worked as counsel alongside the Jamaican QC during Tacklyn's trials.

She took the matter up politically and appealed for Tacklyn's death sentence to be repealed.