About an hour or so ago, the Court of Appeal reversed the first acquittal for murder for 3 men who stood trial without jury. Those 3 men, Orel Leslie, Tyrone Meighan, and Brandon Baptist, who had been acquitted of the murder 28 year-old James Noralez, are now back on the hook for that case. And, that's bad news for Leslie and Meighan who had been free for 1 year and 5 months after beating their case in October of 2015.
In the trial which was presided over by Justice Troadio Gonzalez The DPP's office showed evidence against all 3 men that they, Aaron Paquil, and the deceased, James Noralez, were socializing in Orel Leslie's yard on November 26, 2012. They ran out of drinks, and the investigators believed - but couldn't prove in original trial - that this was the time when they lured him to the junction of Fabers Road, and George Price Highway, under the pretense of replenishing the stock.
That's where the 3 allegedly forced him to get into a black vehicle, after which, they shot him several times and left him to die.
But, after listening to all the evidence, Justice Troadio Gonzalez upheld a no-case submission which was made by their attorneys. That outcome was thoroughly reviewed today in the Court of Appeal in a marathon session which started at 10 a.m., and ended a little bit after 5 this evening. One particular point of contention was the manner in which Justice Gonzalez decided that they had no case to answer. He did not provide any reasons for his conclusion, and the Appeal court judges questioned that at great length. After consideration, the Appeal Court set aside the acquittal, and ordered that they must face a retrial for the case. Brandon Baptist is at prison awaiting trial for another case, but Meighan and Leslie had to be taken back into custody.
They are all back in Prison tonight, after the court of appeal outcome, we got a chance to speak with one of their attorneys, Bryan Neal. Here's his brief interview discussing the Court of Appeal decision:
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"I'm pretty much that this is not the outcome that your client was looking for. You must have wanted to stay at home."
Bryan Neal, Attorney
"Well they were acquitted originally so we were hoping that the acquittal would have stood. The judges have ruled, so we are now going to review our options, one of which to apply for bail. But at this time we really have to review and wait for the reasons from the judges, because they just gave us their ruling, but they didn't give us reasons why. So that is the next move for us to receive reasons and to consider applying for bail."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"What are some of the areas you saw them questioning the most about the ruling from the Supreme Court?"
Bryan Neal, Attorney
"Well the issue was really that the judge didn't give his reasons why he acquitted the accused in terms of his no case submission that was made. So that was the main issue in the case."
Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Is there any clear indication - we know that normally bail isn't allowed or bail isn't granted for persons who are charged with murder. In this instance is this a possible case that these men may get bail?"
Bryan Neal, Attorney
"Well it's a constitutional right to be free and to be admitted to bail, so we can't say whether or not it will be granted, but we certainly have the right to apply and we intend to do that very quickly."
As far as our records show, this is the first outcome from a trial without jury, instituted back in 2012, that has been successfully appealed.
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