Orange Walk Man Acquitted Of Murder

A resident from the north was freed of a murder which occurred in Orange Walk in March of 2012 but he will remain behind bars for another conviction.  Trinidad Pineda was acquitted in the court room of Judge Herbert Lord in the Orange Walk Supreme Court, in a trial by judge without jury. The acquittal occurred this morning and while Pineda was set free of the murder of Christina Santos, he remains behind bars serving a three year sentence for escape which he committed while in detention for Santos’s murder having escaped from custody of the Orange Walk police.  Pineda was accused of fatally stabbing Santos on the abdomen on March twelfth, 2012 and Santos died the following day.  Today, Judge Lord handed down his ruling of a voir dire held in the trial regarding the oral statement made by Pineda in which he told police, he had stabbed Santos because they were fighting. The prosecution called eighteen witnesses to testify including a girlfriend of Santos who was helpful to Pineda’s case telling the court that on the night of the incident, Santos was the aggressor who threatened to kill Pineda.  According to Pineda, he saw a black object coming towards him so fearing for his life, he reached for his knife and stabbed Santos once to the abdomen in self-defence.  After the stabbing incident, Pineda jumped on his bicycle and ride off. The judge rule that Pineda acted in self defence. Since convicted of escaping from lawful custody, Pineda remains incarcerated until May 2017, which is his earliest release date.