Leighton Levy, Star Writer

A judge in Serbia presiding over the retrial of Jamaican basketball player Kimani Ffriend, as experts testifying in the case on Monday, have agreed that the crime scene in the case is to reconstructed when they return for the next court hearing on November 3.

In May, a Serbian Appeals Court ordered a retrial of the vehicular manslaughter case against the Jamaican basketball player, citing mistakes made by the judge who heard the initial trial that concluded last year with the Jamaican getting a three-year sentence.

The 36-year-old Jamaican was charged with the death of Nevena Dragutinovic, a 30-year-old account executive. She was struck by a car being driven by the Jamaican along France Street in Belgrade, about 4 a.m., Saturday, November 3, 2012, shortly after she alighted from a taxi cab that had reportedly stopped in the middle of the road.

The prosecution alleged that Ffriend, who was intoxicated at the time, was reckless. His attorneys claimed, through expert testimony, that when the woman stepped from the cab and into the poorly lit roadway, there was little Ffriend could have done to avoid hitting her.

They view the crime-scene re-construction as a positive outcome for the Jamaican.

Ffriend, released from custody and no longer wearing an ankle bracelet, told STAR Sports his lawyers had planned to get the experts to reconstruct the crime scene when they had appealed the verdict.

The trial judge had denied them the opportunity to do so. Now they have the chance to relive the occurrences of that fateful night and demonstrate the dynamics of what happened.

"Reconstruction was my only chance to prove whose version of the story is more realistic, and we believe we can do that," Ffriend said.