7 News Belize

The Curious Case Of The Guatemalan Smuggler
posted (March 13, 2014)
Over the long weekend, Customs busted a Guatemalan woman with 2 pounds of weed, and instead of going to jail like she ought to, she got off with just paying a fine.

23 year-old Luisa Oralia Lorado Alvarado, a resident of Melchor the Menchos in Guatemala, was caught trying to cross the western border into Belize with the illegal drugs on her, and she was charged with drug trafficking. Alvarado was arraigned on Tuesday before Magistrate Narda Morgan, where Alvarado pleaded guilty to the charge.

Now, highly placed police sources tell us that Magistrate Morgan, as prescribed by the law, initially sentenced Alvarado to pay a fine of $10,000 and serve 3 years in prison. The sentence was already handed down, and Alvarado was then removed from the court room. Police then started to prepare her remand papers so that she could be transported the Belize Central Prison, but then, everything changed.

Our information says that Alvarado was then facilitated by a police officer who took her back before the sitting Magistrate. That's when the prison sentence was withdrawn, and only the fine was left. Alvarado, was able to pay her fine, and she was set free.

Now, that decision to change the sentence is very irregular because once sentence has been passed, it is viewed as final, usually it cannot be retracted, only on circumstances where a formal appeal of the conviction is made. Moreover, for a person to be sentenced to the fine and not confinement, reasons have to be submitted in writing to the Magistrate as to why an accused person ought to be given special consideration for the fine but not the prison sentence. The court book - which is the official record - only reflects that she was fined.

Today, 7News made several attempts to speak with Magistrate Morgan directly to get her comments on the allegation of deviation form procedure. When we called San Ignacio Magistrate's Court, we were told that Morgan had no comment on the case, and she told us to seek out the public relations personnel at the Magistrate's Court in Belize City.

When we contacted the Public Relation's person at the Belize City Magistrate's Court, we were told that Chief Magistrate will start to look into the matter, and that no official comment could be made until they conduct their own investigation as to what happened in the case. We were assured that the matter is being taken seriously.

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