Accused murderers acquitted as witness fails in I.D.

Two Belize City men walked free today after murder charges against them were dropped in the Supreme Court. Twenty-five year old Terence Bailey and twenty-six year old Jerry Bush were freed after Justice Troadio Gonzalez instructed a jury of four men and eight women to find both men not guilty of the charge of murder. The charges against the two men resulted from an incident that occurred on May twenty-sixth, 2003, near the intersection of Amara Avenue and Allenby Streets. Two men, Kareem Swazo and Calbert Budd, were gunned down when their vehicle stopped at the intersection. Swazo was fatally wounded in his lower back. Budd was shot twice, in his abdomen and hip, but survived the attack. Police investigations led to Bailey and Bush being charged with murder. The case for the prosecution fell apart after its main witness, Budd, was unable to positively identify Bailey and Bush as the men who shot him.