Murder trial of Marlon Foreman falls apart due to lack of evidence

Marlon Foreman

Twenty-seven-year-old Marlon Foreman, who was initially accused of murder and three counts of attempted murder, gained his freedom today.  Foreman was behind bars since January 2009 for the shooting death of Barney Cunningham who succumbed on January sixth. Foreman had also been charged with the attempted murder of Edmund Castillo, Enrique Alvarez, and Glenford Myers. He should have been freed since last Friday, when the representative of the D.P.P.’s office, Sheneiza Smith filed a letter for nolle prosequi. But for an unexplained reason, it didn’t happen until this morning in the court room of Justice Troadio Gonzalez. When Foreman heard that he was free to go, he bolted out of the courtroom and caught up with friends outside the Belize City Magistrate’s Court. According to the crown, the case was nolle prosequi when a crucial witness could not be located.  We spoke with Foreman attorney, Bryan Neal, who told us that there was no evidence before the court to substantiate the charge of murder against Foreman.

Bryan Neal, Attorney for Marlon Foreman

Bryan Neal

“Well, a nolle pros was entered under the irregular procedure act. Having looked at the depositions there was never any evidence sufficient to convict my client and so this was the inevitable result.”

Reporter

“Your client knew he was going to be released from Friday what happened why he wasn’t released on Friday?”

Bryan Neal

“Well this is what I don’t understand because this document was filed at ten-forty-three a.m. and upon this document being filed he should have been immediately released. If you look at the registry filed it at ten-forty-five a.m., yet he was held four years and another two days. So I do not understand what happened. He was supposed to be released on Friday, but I am happy that he is going home today.”

Cunningham was shot on January second, 2009, at around nine while on Curl Thompson Street in the Jane Usher Boulevard area.  He was one of eight persons who were helping forty-two-year-old Edmund Castillo move his family from Baracat to Curl Thompson Street. According to police, a lone gunman pulled up in the area and opened fire on the group, shooting Cunningham on the left side of the head. Castillo was subsequently gunned down in April 2010, leaving only Alvarez and Myers alive; but according to the crown, the men never saw the shooter so their testimony could not help the case.