Three Men Handed Down Lengthy Sentence for Separate Killings

Kashief Gallego

A trio of men, including Honduran national Marcial Toledo, convicted in separate homicide cases, was sentenced in the Supreme Court today by Justice Susan Lamb.  Thirty-year-old Kashief Gallego, fifty-two-year-old Marcial Toledo and twenty-seven-year-old Evyn Ardon all pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter for their individual roles in three different incidents.  This evening, Gallego, was handed down a thirty-year sentence which was subsequently reduced to twenty years, considering his time on remand.  On June twenty-first, 2017, Jermaine Franklin, a resident of East Canal, was shot and killed a short distance away from Teddy’s Music on King Street.  Franklin was reportedly inside the establishment when Gallego buzzed the door.  When Gallego entered the business, he opened fire on Franklin, who ran outside after being injured.  When he fell to the ground a short distance away, Gallego reportedly stood over him and fired multiple rounds at him.

Marcial Toledo

Up next was Marcial Toledo, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the stabbing death of Police Constable Marvin Locke in March 2017.  The officer was fatally injured at the Raccoon Street Police Station where Toledo had visited him at the end of his shift.  Toledo reportedly arrived at home under the influence of alcohol on that fateful day when someone informed him that they saw his wife in the company of the policeman that morning.  Several hours later, the Honduran national visited the police headquarters in Belize City where he spoke casually with PC Locke before inflicting the deadly injuries.  Upon pleading guilty to manslaughter, Toledo accepted responsibility for his actions and while he was also initially sentenced to thirty years, his time reduced to twenty years.  He won’t be eligible for parole until he has served a minimum of fifteen years at the Belize Central Prison.

Evyn Ardon

And lastly, twenty-seven-year-old Evyn Ardon also appeared before Justice Lamb this afternoon where he was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for the stabbing death of forty-year-old Manuel Canales, a Salvadoran national.  In 2018, the men were returning to Belize City from Ladyville when they got into a fight.  During the altercation, Ardon produced a knife and stabbed Canales in the abdomen.  Canales later succumbed to his injuries.  For his guilty plea, Ardon was sentenced to fourteen years which was reduced to nine years.  After Justice Lamb considered the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case, and the fact that he is a young father, two more years were shaved off the sentence.  A further deduction of four years and eight months were also considered for the time he has spent on remand, leaving him with a little over two years and three months remaining for his sentence.