against sentence thrown out yesterday.

Teiko Furbert and Sheldon Franks were found guilty of the murder of James Cyrus Caines at a trial in April.

Earlier this month, lawyers for both men appealed the sentences, claiming the trial judge had made a number of errors.

But yesterday the Appeals Court upheld the sentences, saying the judge had acted correctly.

They dismissed defence claims that the trial judge should not have allowed certain pieces of evidence -- such as Caines' dying declaration -- and said judge had not misled the jury in his summing up.

And they disagreed with defence arguments that the judge had confused the jury in his definition of murder.

The court also concluded that a Royal Gazette interview with Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness encouraging juries to convict drug offenders, printed on the last day of the trial, would not have influenced the verdict.

Caines was killed after being shot once in the face one evening in July last year.

At the trial both Furbert and Franks denied firing the gun, blaming each other for the killing.

But dismissing all appeal counts, Court of Appeals President Sir James Astwood said: "Since the jury has convicted both of these men, they must have accepted that these two men were in a joint enterprise.

"This they were perfectly entitled to do.'' Sir James Astwood