The Court of Appeals yesterday dismissed an appeal by Lagoon Park murderer, Robert Blair Tucker, and co-defendant James Alan (Spook) Dill who was convicted on a lesser charge of manslaughter last year.

Tucker received a life sentence for stabbing and killing American drug dealer, Stanley Lee, also known as Sean ?Shar? Russell?s, on July 1, 2001, while Dill was given a ten-year sentence for manslaughter.

Appeals court president, Mr. Justice Edward Zacca said reasons for the dismissal would be put into writing at a later date.

Mr. Justice Zacca, Mr. Justice Gerald Nazareth and Mr. Justice Sir Murray Stuart-Smith spent three days listening to submissions by Tucker and Dill?s lawyers, Larry Scott and Elizabeth Christopher as well as Crown Prosecutor, Juan Wolffe.

During the Crown?s submissions yesterday the question of how long Tucker and Dill had been in Police custody arose.

Mr. Scott had suggested that Police had kept his client, Tucker, in custody for almost a year without the chance of bail ? even before formal charges of murder were made against him.

Mr. Wolffe suggested that the defendants were kept in custody because of the ?seriousness of the offence and the unique circumstances?.

Referring to black and white photographs of the badly decomposed body of Stanley Lee, Mr. Wolffe said it took experts a year to complete their studies and determine exactly how Lee had died and also when the murder had taken place.

Lee?s corpse had been recovered in August 2001 after another co-accused, Terranz Smith, had taken Police and Mr. Scott, who was his lawyer at the time, to the spot in Lagoon Park and showed them where Lee?s body was ?hidden.? Smith was later found not guilty and released.

Mr. Wolffe said the ?bug lady? had determined through studies on the flies that had infested Lee?s corpse, that he (Lee) was killed sometime around July 28th of 2001 between 2 and 5 p.m.

He added that even before the results were made known, the Crown?s evidence against the two men was strong enough to keep them in custody. He said this was based on the strength of evidence given by Dill against Tucker and Smith against the two men.

In response to Ms Christopher?s submission that Dill should not have been found guilty for manslaughter, when he was found not guilty for murder, Mr Wolffe read from one of the formal Police statements from August 14, 2001 made by Dill.

In these, Dill had told Police that he was next to Russell (Lee) when he died and had watched him gurgle, watched the blood coming from his mouth and watched his eyes close as he died.

?Dill also told Police that at first he was sitting on his bike watching Tucker chase Russell though the bushes before ?catching him and stabbing him in the chest? at which point he (Dill) looked away,? Mr. Wolffe said.

Mr. Wolffe said there was never any proof that Dill had stabbed Russell, or delivered the ?fatal blow?, but he did go to Lagoon Park to ?do Russell in? so he was still part of the actual killing.

He added that Dill knew there was tension between Tucker and Russell, he carried the knife which he disposed of after the killing and lured him to Lagoon Park, drove him there on his bike and handed Tucker the knife which was used to killed him.

Mr. Wolffe said Dill had admitted to not having done anything to stop Tucker from killing Russell, but prior to the killing he had suggested to Tucker that they pay Russell the money they owed him for drugs and leave it be.