As we told you, Arnold, the 19 year-old resident of Unitedville Village, was returning home from a wake in the early morning hours of Monday May 26. He was with 3 of his cousins, and had just gotten off a church bus about a mile from Arnold's home.

That's around the time when a police mobile from San Ignacio pulled up, and the officers searched them. One of Arnold's cousins had words with the officers, who allegedly started to beat him. Arnold then said some words to one of the officers, who cranked a weapon and told him to go home. He says that while he was leaving, one of the officers took aim at him and shot him in the back. He claims that the attack was unprovoked, and that the officer had no reason to use deadly force against him.

To make a bad situation worse, the officers left Arnold on the side of the road to fend for himself after he was shot, and a Justice of the Peace had to rush him to the hospital.

After doing their initial investigation, police charged 4 officers: 31 year-old Constable Jesus Marroquin, 24 year-old Constable Maxwell Valerio, 33 year-old Corporal Ricky Valencia, and 29 year-old Special Constable Ernesto Budna, jointly with the charge of harm. Because they believed that Marroquin was the officer who pulled the trigger, he was additionally charged with attempted murder, use of deadly means of harm, and wounding. Marroquin and Valencia were both charged internally with disciplinary charges.

Now, whenever cases such as these go to the Magistrate's Court, the accused persons are first arraigned. Then, the police prosecutor requests adjournment dates so that the investigating officers can put together the evidence in the form of files that the court can use. At every adjournment, the prosecutor in charge of the case must report to the presiding magistrate about any progress made, and must make reasoned requests for further adjournments. They must demonstrate to the court that at subsequent adjournments, the prosecution gets closer to disposing of the case by taking it to trial. In cases of attempted murder, the prosecutor puts together all the evidence and submits it to the court for a preliminary inquiry. They must also provide the accused persons with copies of the evidence against them in the form of disclosure.

In this case, the police prosecutor handling the shooting of Elston Arnold did not provide the court with the evidence against the 4 officers. We've been trying to confirm with the police, but we've been unsuccessful. Our information, is, however, that the original investigation file was somehow mishandled, and it didn't end up in the hands of the Magistrate's Court at the time it was required.