Belize City Duo Acquitted of 2010 Murder

Phillip Wallace

On February first, 2010, a barrage of bullets was sprayed at one man, but many others were hit in the shooting. The violent shooting took the life of Darrell Williams Junior, a former student of Gwen Lizarraga High School, but a bystander was left crippled, several others were injured and the intended target escaped unharmed. A section of the Central American Boulevard was cordoned off to control the violence.  The target was later identified as Jason Reynolds, who became the main witness for the prosecution in trial. When the case started, he could not be located until recently when police caught up with him. Based on Reynolds statements, police claimed they arrested and charged Phillip Wallace and Austin Underwood, who at the time was seventeen years old. But Reynolds denied ever providing a statement and a no case submission was made on Wallace and Underwood’s behalf by attorneys Oscar Selgado and Kathleen Lewis. This morning, Judge Troadio Gonzalez ruled that there was no case to answer and he directed the jury to return a verdict of not guilty setting the two men free of the charge of murder since the justice found that there was no evidence against them to secure a conviction.  Wallace and Underwood were also charged with Attempted Murder upon Robert Howard, Stephen Rhamdas, and nine year old Grace Primary student, Janay Moguel.  The duo was additionally charged with Dangerous Harm and Use of Deadly Means of Harm upon Howard, Rhamdas and Moguel as well as with Aggravated Assault with a Firearm upon Marlon Jones, who is now deceased.  But while they are not guilty of murder, they still have to answer to the pending charges.