In our last segment, we told you about the third murder trial of brother's Maurice and Emory Felix, which ended in a hung jury. Well, we have a bit more details to share how this one played out in court.
As we told you, the case took place for over a month in the Corozal Supreme Court, far removed from the jurisdiction where 29 year-old Mitchum Heredia, the deceased, was killed. One of the reasons for that was to try to lessen outside influence, including jury and witness tampering.
The allegation against the Felix brothers was that they gunned down Heredia just before 6:30 p.m. on April 10, 2006 as he arrived at his house on T Street, Belize City. He reportedly was entering his yard in a Nissan Maxima car, when 2 armed men, ambushed and shot him 6 times at close range.
Of important note is that parts of the transcript from the previous trial was entered as evidence in this new trial. It pertained the testimony that the now deceased Romel Palacio Jr. gave when he was a witness for the prosecution. Palacio Jr. described how he saw the brothers shot Herredia several times.
Justice Troadio Gonzalez admitted the transcript of Palacio's 2012 testimony into evidence against the Felix brothers.
In their defence, the Felix brothers both gave alibi evidence explaining to the court that at the time of Heredia's murder, they weren't anywhere near the crime scene.
The jury deliberated from 5:00 pm yesterday all the way up to 11 last night, and when they emerged, they told Justice Gonzalez that they couldn't reach a verdict, so a mistrial had to be declared. We're told the men spent the night in the Corozal Police Station's holding cell, and they were transferred to the Belize Central Prison this evening.
So, that's where they are right now, and we've since confirmed with the Director of Public Prosecutions, that since the brothers have been tried 3 times already, there is currently no intention to bring a fourth prosecution against them – meaning they will be set free.
Vidal told us that at a later date, her office will be writing to the authorities to indicate that intention. When the police and the Central Prison are officially informed, the men will be released.
But as we told you, there was the suspicion that persons were trying to tamper with the prosecution's case against the Felix brothers. Today, we had an interview with Arthur Saldivar, attorney for the Felix brothers, where he explained his take on the case moving to the north. He said that jury and witness tampering wasn't the main concern, and here's how he explained it:
Arthur Saldivar - Attorney for the Felix Brothers
"Jury tampering was never a consideration. Again, we are talking about 2 persons who were incarcerated now for the past 8 years, who had gone through 2 trials that ended uneventfully, in the sense that the jurors were able to deliberate and come to their decision. In this particular instance, I believe that the impetus for moving the trial was more as a result of extensive media coverage and the likelihood of prejudice coming widespread rumours about certain things that were happening in the wider society affecting persons who were close to the case. Now, we know that Belize City is a violent place, and persons living in economically challenged neighbourhoods, as the Kraal Road area and some areas on the Southside of Belize City are, these areas are susceptible to random acts of violence, which in many cases results in death. There was the allegation that a person from the prosecution's side, a witness, had been killed. And we know how rumours are in Belize; automatically, the assumption was that these guys had something to do with it. There is no proof of that, and I don't believe that they did certainly, but it's not for me to say one way or the other. At this point, I will say this, due process took it's course, these persons have been tried 3 times. I am of the belief that the evidence that the prosecution brought was very weak because there were gaps inside that evidence, but I believe that again, the extensive media coverage may have played a role."
The Felix brothers have been on remand at the Belize Central Prison for 8 years now.
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