Year old murder case falls apart as judge directs acquittal

Fifteen months ago, the heartless murder of Belize City businessman Michael Burns in front of his nine year old son rocked the old capital. In the aftermath of the crime, public outcry demanded justice and police worked quickly to arrest two young men: eighteen year old Keith Lewis and seventeen year old Kareem Gladden. As the brutal offence faded from the headlines, the case against the two meandered through the judicial system and prosecutors would eventually withdraw charges against Gladden in exchange for his testimony against Lewis, the alleged shooter. But when the case landed in the courtroom of Justice Troadio Gonzalez on Monday morning, things fell apart. Lewis failed to show up to testify and effectively placed all the prosecution’s hopes on the shoulders of the victim’s young son, now ten years old. The child, who was with his father at the time of the killing, described his parent’s murderer as “a dark skinned young man with a white thing over his head and a red rag over his mouth.” The boy later identified that man as the accused Keith Lewis. But when Lewis’s attorney Anthony Sylvestre addressed the court, he made a no case submission arguing that the child’s identification was weak at best. Sylvestre maintained that because 1) the boy admitted to being confused and frightened, 2) the incident took place at night, and 3) parts of the shooter’s face were covered, it would be wrong to even allow the case to reach the jury. Crown Counsel Kamar Henry couldn’t fight the logic of Sylvestre’s submission and in the end Justice Gonzalez agreed to stop the case and directed the jury to enter a not guilty verdict. An elated Lewis walked out of court a free man at two fifteen this afternoon declaring “Thank God I finish, because I know I mi innocent.” He then got into a waiting taxi and sped off.