It was all about a girl when Mark Gardiner was accused of boldly gunning down Gregory Batty at a high school football game one year ago in March of 2003.
It was labeled as an outrage, and this killing at a high school sports contest marred the finals, and certainly altered the perception of public safety. But today the accused killer Mark Gardiner walked down the steps of the Supreme Court a free man - declared not guilty by the court.
On Tuesday, prosecutor Kevin Arthurs requested a 'Nolle Proseque.' Arthurs basically asked the court to release Gardiner and leave the option for him to be re-arrested; problem is that a jury was already empanelled. So today Justice Gonzalez agreed with defense attorney Linsbert Willis' submission that because a jury was already empanelled they should be ordered to declare Gardiner not guilty. Arthurs made a last ditch attempt to save the case by telling the court he was ready to proceed with the trial. But it was too late and Gonzalez instructed the jury to find Gardiner not guilty.
Gardiner is the second suspect to be freed for Batty's murder. Both Gardiner and Fransbert Pook were originally arrested for the murder. Pook was released late last year and Gardiner's charge was later reduced to manslaughter.
Now, the interesting thing is that because he was declared not guilty by a jury, he cannot be prosecuted again for the same crime because that would be what's called double jeopardy, which is violation of his constitutional rights.