US National, 81 years old, on trial for fatal traffic accident

Eighty-one year old US National, Gordon Stout, got a mixture of good and bad news in court today. Stout, who has been living in Corozal, appeared in the Belize City Court before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer on three charges relating to a fatal traffic accident in November 2009. The preliminary inquiry was to start this morning, when a directive from the Director of Public Prosecutions was presented to the court. The memo stated that charges of Manslaughter by Negligence and Driving a Motor Vehicle without Due Care and Attention are to be withdrawn, but no reason was given. That leaves a single charge of Causing Death by Careless Conduct for which Stout will stand trial at the Supreme Court in the April Session. Stout was granted bail of four thousand dollars and indicated to the court that he has at least three witnesses to testify on his behalf. The accident occurred back on November fifth, 2009 between miles twenty-four and twenty-five on the Northern Highway. Twenty-eight year old Dorian Herrera, a resident of Double Head Cabbage, was working on the roadside when he was hit by a Gold Toyota SUV, driven by the American senior citizen. Ironically, Herrera’s relatives say he was placing a traffic cone to caution drivers to slow down when the vehicle hit him.