Witness in Shawn Menzies Murder Case Charged Again

Jaylen Herrera

A witness in one of the most sensational murder trials of 2023 has been charged again with the November, 2020 murder of Shawn Menzies Senior. The uncooperative witness who was given immunity and who blatantly lied on the stand, was arraigned today in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court, charged for a second time with Menzies’ murder. Twenty-year-old Jaylen Alexander Herrera is also charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice. The West Lake resident of Mile Eight Community was charged following instructions from the D.P.P.’s office on Tuesday. Herrera, who has been remanded to the Belize Central Prison on another murder charge, was taken to the Belama Police Station, where he was processed and charged with Menzies’ murder. This afternoon, Herrera appeared unrepresented in court, where he was read the three charges: murder, perjury and perverting the course of justice. The allegations are that he and another individual, on November eighteenth, 2020, murdered Shawn Menzies. Herrera was only seventeen at the time of the murder. Another allegation against him is that on Friday, June ninth, of this year, in Belize City, with intent to obstruct the course of justice, gave untrue statements under oath at the High Court, which he knew to be false. That was during the trial for which Eric Miranda and Jeffrey Contreras were found guilty of early this month. Due to the nature of the offenses against Herrera, no plea taken and he was further remanded into custody at the prison until January twenty-third. When the magistrate asked him in court if he understood the charge and if he had any questions of concern, Herrera asked, “How can I get charged for something  where two persons have already been found guilty of,”. The senior magistrate explained to him that she could not answer that question since she is only the magistrate reading him the charge, but that it is a question he can deal with at his trial. Credible sources indicate that Herrera was given immunity to testify against Miranda and Contreras but he became a hostile witness for the prosecution and gave testimony that contradicted his statement given to the police after the murder in 2020. We were reliably informed that Herrera also gave evidence from the stand that contradicted his agreement with the D.P.P.’s office after he was given immunity to testify against the men instead of being charged criminally for the murder. Shawn Menzies was executed while smoking a cigarette in his yard on Castle Street on November eighteenth, 2020. During the trial, another prosecution witness, Iran Jones who had just finished testifying, mysteriously went missing and was found dead about a week later in a shallow grave in Biscayne Village. Meanwhile, Miranda and Contreras are to be sentenced on December seventh.