10 years for Pint-Bottle Manslaughter

Estevan Williams, a teenager found guilty of the 2008 manslaughter of Jerson Paguada Hernandez, was today sentenced to ten years in prison.  On Friday, a unanimous decision was handed down by a twelve member jury in which Williams was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser charge for fatally stabbing Hernandez, a Honduran national who was living in Salvapan. Hernandez was stabbed in the neck and head with a broken beer bottle during an altercation at a bar in San Jose Succotz.  The decade-long prison term was prescribed by Justice Troadio Gonzalez in the Belmopan Supreme Court following mitigation pleas from three character witnesses. According to police, Williams confessed that Hernandez approached him demanding two dollars.  When he told Hernandez that he had no money a scuffle ensued during which a punch was thrown at him.  That’s when Williams inflicted multiple stab wounds on Hernandez with a broken beer bottle.  Under oath however, Williams told the court that he was instructed by an officer to give that statement.  Estevan Williams has been on remand at the Belize Central Prison since June 2008.