5 years behind bars; Not Guilty of Murder

Back in January 2007, the then sixteen year old Kevin Santos was arrested and charged for Murder. Santos was with a group of friends who got into trouble with another group of young men on Christmas Eve of 2006. Chris Rosales was walking with friends on Burns Avenue in San Ignacio when they were assaulted due to the color of the shirt he was wearing. Rosales was stabbed to his back and chest; two others were injured: Justin Rodriguez on the right arm and Kennylee Gonzalez was stabbed on the stomach. Rosales died before he got to the Western Regional Hospital. That mischievous act landed Santos in jail; he was charged with murder. Another youth Kevin Diaz was detained and charged for attempted murder. Santos went to trial, two years later and a jury in September 2009 unanimously found that he was guilty of murder and he began serving a life sentence. Santos appealed and the matter was remitted for retrial in March, 2010. It was scheduled for several retrials which were all adjourned, until this past Monday when the case began with the empanelling of twelve jurors. After hearing the witnesses, his attorney Dean Lindo, presented a no-case submission, and this past Wednesday, he was found not guilty. So after spending five years behind bars, Santos has now been set free. The presiding Judge was Justice Troadio Gonzalez, the Prosecutor for the DPP’s office was Cecil Ramirez and representing Santos was Senior Counsel Dean R. Lindo.