The arrest of 23 year-old Glenford Vernon, 23 year-old Carlton Pakeman, and 18 year-old Lindon Hinds was heralded by police as a break in the case for the shooting death of 39 year-old Jessem Gladden, who was gunned down in June of 2011. But tonight, all 3 men have been freed of all firearms charges which were laid against them after they were found in a vehicle which allegedly matched the description of the one which fled the scene of that shooting.
According to police, the men were intercepted in a grey Ford Escort car on Thursday June 23, 2011, near the Esso Gas Station at the corner of Woods Street and Cemetery Road. They claimed that they were responding to reports that this vehicle fled the scene of Jessem Gladden's shooting on Flamboyant Street.
As a result, police searched the vehicle and said that they found a sawed-off shotgun. All 3 men were charged with keeping a prohibited firearm.
We fast-forward to today, when the trio was acquitted of the offence as the trial ended before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer.
In the trial, it was determined that this sawed-off shotgun that police claimed they found was nothing more than a pellet gun, which the firearms expert testified saying was not even in working condition.
The attorney for the defence, Dickie Bradley, made a no-case submission in relation to those facts, and in today's hearing, Senior Magistrate Frazer upheld it.
She dismissed the charge against all 3 men, and they were able to walk out of court free men. They have indicated that they will bring a lawsuit against the department in relation to this charge.
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