Ex-police Officers Sentenced to 15 Years for Beating Death of Edwin Ixpatec

Edwin Ixpatec

We begin our newscast tonight with a decision that was handed down in the High Court earlier today by Justice Ricardo O‘Neil Sandcroft.  Three former law enforcement officers have been sentenced to fifteen years in prison after they were convicted of manslaughter in the beating death of a bartender in San Pedro in March 2016.  They are twenty-eight-year-old Romelio Logan, twenty-seven-year-old Reydel Teck, and twenty-seven-year-old Jashimir Cobb.  The men were found guilty for their role in a vicious beat down that claimed the life of Edwin Ixpatec on the island town several years ago.

This afternoon, Justice Sandcroft informed the trio that he cannot grant a non-custodial sentence and must balance the interest of society.  While he did not hand down life sentences, the judge set their prison terms at fifteen years, before subtracting five years for their good social inquiry report, as well as the time they have spent on remand at the Belize Central Prison.  Notwithstanding the verdict, attorney Oscar Selgado has stated that he will be appealing that decision.  On March fourteenth, 2016, San Pedro police responded to Banyan Bay Resort where it was reported that Edwin Ixpatec had been behaving disorderly in the sea.  He was retrieved from the water by the officers who escorted him to the police station where witnesses saw the lawmen striking him multiple times with a baton.  The deadly incident was captured on video.  Ixpatec was found unresponsive inside a holding cell the following day.  Despite being transported to the K.H.M.H. in Belize City to undergo brain surgery, Ixpatec succumbed to his injuries.