Murder suspects freed of charge

Turning to the trial of the 2007 murder of sixteen year old Faron Leslie Felix. This afternoon, one of the two murder suspects walked free and is back on Belize City streets after he was acquitted of the murder charges. Felix was brutally gunned down when he was shot eight times on November thirtieth, 2007 after being ambushed near a cement fence in the Faber’s Road area. And today during the second day of trial of the accused gunmen, Jason Gentle and Norman McKenzie, there were no evidence of guns or ammunitions brought before the court to support the police allegations. There was also no eyewitness to the shooting and the prosecution had only circumstantial evidence linking the two accused men to the crime. In addition to that, Cordel Flowers, who was shot twice in the incident and was also the main witness, was unable to identify the shooters after testifying that when he and Felix ran from the gunmen. He also said that the area was dark and he could not see the shooter. The case was too weak to seal a conviction and Justice Michele Arana ruled that there was insufficient evidence against both accused and minutes later in the presence of the jury, instructed them to enter a not guilty verdict. Attorney for Gentle, Simeon Sampson, told News Five that the prosecution had insufficient evidence against his client.

Simeon Sampson, Attorney for Jason Gentle
“The police charged him for killing and murdering Faron Felix and there was absolutely no evidence.”

Anita Nembhard, Freelance Court Reporter
“You made a no case submission this morning.”

Simeon Sampson
“Yes, because the principal witness for this morning, Mr. Marvin Locke only said that he heard gun shot in the Central American Boulevard area, nowhere where my client was at the material time when he heard the gunshot. So if he said that they saw people running away, that does not mean that my client was not present at the time of the gunshot and that was it. The prosecution could not prove that the crime was committed by my client. End of story.”

But freedom was only given to Gentle as McKenzie was returned to prison to finish off his seven year sentence for the 2007 attempted murder of his brother-in-law, Simon Castillo.