Allen Martinez acquitted of arson charges

Also in court, twenty-two year old Allen Martinez was today freed of a charge of Attempted Arson after Justice Adolph Lucas directed the jury to acquit him because there was not sufficient evidence to prove the charge. The incident goes back to 2007, when the then twenty-year old was accused of attempting to set a house on fire. Prosecutor, Trienia Young called five witnesses to the stand including the complainant as the main witness. Martinez’s trial began on Thursday with testimony from the complainant, Roy Latchman, who testified that on June twenty-fourth, 2007, at about ten-thirty p.m., Martinez attempted to burn down his house at the corner of Louise Bevans and Freedom Streets. Latchman testified that while inside his house, he heard a noise and when he looked through his window, he saw Martinez on his front step. He said he saw Martinez throw a bottle on his verandah, then a flickering, and Martinez running down the street. The trial came to an end when Justice Lucas told the jurors and the prosecution that the witness had not established what caused the flickering and why it had not caused a fire. Latchman had been asked about this three times but he did not answer. And while Judge Lucas explained that he would have left it up to the jurors to draw their inference, he also noted that during the trial, there was evidence of inconsistency, so he was forced to direct the jurors to acquit Martinez of the charge. Martinez wasted no time to exit the court room and was greeted by relatives and friends. Martinez was unrepresented at trial and Trienia Young was the prosecutor who represented the DPP’s office.