Elden Flowers Walks from Richard O’Neil Murder

Elden Flowers

Twenty-three-year-old Elden Flowers, a well-known street figure, walked free from the murder of Richard O’Neil earlier today after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions entered a nolle prosequi in the courtroom of Justice Nigel Pilgrim.  In November 2019, O’Neil was abducted and taken to an area along the Boom/Hattieville Road where he was shot and left for dead.  The resident of Ordonez Street survived for three weeks before succumbing to his injuries.  A month and a half later, Flowers was taken into police custody and was subsequently charged with murder, He remained in pretrial detention at the Belize Central Prison for almost three years before appearing in the high court earlier today for trial.  While waiting for the matter to commence, Flowers was informed by the judge that he was free to go after Senior Crown Counsel Sheneiza Smith entered a case of nolle prosequi against the accused.  No reason was given for the no case submission.  The charge against Flowers was not his first murder rap.  In 2017, he was arraigned on a count of murder, following the shooting death of Randolph Johnson.  He was later acquitted of that charge by Justice Colin Williams in a trial without jury.  Attorney Norman Rodriguez spoke on Flowers’ behalf following today’s acquittal.

Norman Rodriguez

Norman Rodriguez, Attorney for Elden Flowers

“We went before the court three to four weeks ago for case management and the judge gave certain orders to the Crown and to myself which is normal for that to happen at a case management because the purpose of that is to work out the issues that need to be worked out.  So he gave certain orders and we also looked at something very important to this case that there was one hearsay statement and that is what the Crown would have relied on to get a conviction.  It’s kind of challenging, it is very challenging, as a matter of fact, because the hearsay statement didn’t fall within one of the exceptions.  So it would have been an uphill battle for the Crown and prudently, about less than a week ago, I was informed that they had filed the nolle pros.”

Reporter

“So Mr. Flowers was charged for murder?”

Norman Rodriguez

“He was charged for murder and I must say that it’s regretful that somebody lost his life and I want to sympathize with the family for that because nobody deserves to be killed.  But if you’re going to get a conviction or if you’re going to prosecute somebody, the evidence must be there to support the commission of the crime and in this case, that wasn’t the case.  I must also add that I am not going to take credit for this, it is simply the due process at work or justice at work, Lady Justice functioning, because, like I said, prudently, the Crown decided that they would not have enough evidence and they did what they had to do, they did not prolong it.”