Pascasio found guilty of businessman?s murder

He was one of two men arrested for the killing of popular businessman Inez “Blankie” Leal … and today twenty-one year old Jermaine Pascasio was found guilty of murder. The jury of four men and eight women deliberated for just over two hours. They chose to believe the testimony of policeman Ramon Cantun, who on the morning of September twenty-third, 2003, heard shots on Pickstock Street and saw two men, one of whom he identified as Pascasio, leave Blankie’s store and run down the street. The sixty-four year old Leal had been fatally shot three times in the face during a botched robbery. In his defence, Pascasio’s attorney Oswald Twist called an alibi witness, Raymond Gentle, who testified that Pascasio was with him at his shop at the time of the shooting. The jury did not find Gentle’s testimony credible. The case for the crown was presented by Marjorie Moyston although Cheryl-Lyn Branker-Tait held over for Moyston in court today. Pascasio’s sentencing is set for March thirtieth. Originally a second defendant, Ernest Hinds, was charged along with Pascasio, but the prosecution opted for a nolle prosequi motion last October.