Ramiro De la Rosa Granted Bail
Ramiro de la Rosa
Today, Chief Magistrate Sharon Fraser granted a stay of execution in the case of Ramiro De la Rosa. He was sentenced earlier this month after police searched his home in Duck Run Two community and rounded him and his wife up for a loaded shotgun that was licensed to his recently deceased father. De la Rosa, who was ill-advised, pleaded guilty to possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition and was sentenced the same day to three years imprisonment. His sentence has drawn outrage from residents in the Cayo community who thought it was too harsh. Attorney Orson Elrington, who now represents De la Rosa, filed an appeal of the sentence. Elrington updated us on what happened in court today.
Orson Elrington
Orson Elrington, Attorney-at-law
“We took on the challenge of trying to assist Mister De la Rosa because we thought it was in the interest of justice so, effectively and that is what the law requires, that for a Stay of Execution to be granted, it must be in the interest of justice and one of the most important criterias in that is that there must be a reasonable prospect of success on appeal. And so today we had to convince the learned Magistrate that on appeal it was in the interest of justice for this Stay to be granted and that we had a reasonable prospect of success for the appeal. We had submitted our Stay of Execution and our appeal is on two grounds – one that the learned Magistrate erred in law when she determined that words uttered by Mister De la Rosa was an unequivocal guilty plea. We disagreed; and that even if it was a guilty plea that the sentence handed down was unjustly harsh. The learned Magistrate in her oral delivery of her judgment today said that she did not agree with our submission that there was an error in law but she did agree that there was a possibility of a reasonable prospect of success in trying to appeal the sentence in this matter and therefore she granted the Stay of Execution. Essentially the Stay of Execution is a halt as to the judgment handed down by the court and so Mister De la Rosa would be granted his freedom. The second part to that was that she also had to grant bail. So it was two parts to that – the Stay of Execution and also the bail.”
De la Rosa, who has been hospitalized with anxiety and stomach issues ever since he was handed down the sentence, will be freed from the hospital as soon as he is well enough. He will then appear before the Supreme Court where the actual appeal of his guilty plea and sentence will be heard. Today, he received bail in the amount of eight thousand dollars.
