Drugs and murder trials dominated the headlines in April.

Three men accused of mudering 31-year-old songwriter Matthew Clark in his Pembroke, North Shore home, all received guilty verdicts.

According to prosecutors, Shannon Tucker, 33, Vernon Simons, 24, and Kyle Sousa, 18, all participated in stabbing and beating Clark to death.

Clark's girlfriend, Charlitta Spencer, found his body in bed with 26 stab wounds and serious head injuries on April 9, 2008.

The month-long trial saw much finger pointing and blame between the three defendants, each of whom claimed innocence and blamed the other two for the murder.

During the trial Tucker admitted that he and the victim had collaborated to import ecstasy and marijuana in to Bermuda.

Tucker claimed that Clark was behind the importation and had offered Tucker two pounds of marijuana if he could smuggle it inside Tucker's toolbox.

After the drugs were found by Police, the prosecution claimed Tucker and Simons committed the murder and enlisted Sousa to help in the hope that having Mr. Clarke dead would make the drugs matter go away.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said the slaying ranked among the worst he had ever seen.

The judge told the trio: "The jury of your peers has, by a unanimous verdict, found you guilty of the offence of murder. In my view, this was a very vicious premeditated murder."

A man accused of importing a handgun and ten pounds of cannabis inside a television set urged a jury to clear his name, claiming he was the victim of an elaborate set-up.

David Anthony Brangman admitted buying a TV in the US and sending it to Bermuda via a courier package in a friend's name.

He also acknowledged that his fingerprints were found on the packaging of the drugs, which had a street value of up to $236,275 at the time.

However, he told the Supreme Court jury hearing his trial that someone must have packed the contraband inside the set without his knowledge while it was in storage for two days prior to shipping

"I would like to tell you from the bottom of my heart, I had nothing to do with this situation that I am being charged here with today," he told the jury.

The jury cleared his name by majority verdict after two hours and 45 minutes of deliberations yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Brangman greeted the news by bowing to the nine women and three men and telling them: "Thank you very much."

A man caught with $383,000 worth of cocaine and cannabis in pellets in his stomach was jailed for ten years.

Jamaican national Donald Lowrie claimed he was forced to swallow the drugs at gunpoint, and did not alert the authorities for fear his family would be harmed.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith had explained how Lowrie, 44, of Hollywood, Florida, arrived in Bermuda on a commercial flight from Miami on October 3.

His pants aroused the suspicion of Customs officers, as did his story that he'd come to the Island to watch Beyonce perform at the Music Festival.

The singer had in fact performed the night before.

Chief Justice Richard Ground ordered concurrent sentences of ten years for the cocaine and five years for the cannabis.