The soldier and policeman charged, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 10 years in jail for killing a man in the line of duty are free men tonight. In a surprising outcome, this morning the Court of Appeal threw out last year's conviction for manslaughter and ordered a new trial for Special Constable Dennis Palacio and BDF Private Giovanni Gutierrez.
The two were charged for the September 10th 2003 shooting death of Aaron Mariano just outside the Queen Street Police Station. The officers were pursuing Mariano and private Gutierrez shot Mariano on instruction from Special Constable Dennis Palacio. Today the Court of Appeal granted an appeal because they say the jury should have been instructed to consider that as men of the law, Palacio and Guiterrez were authorized to carry arms.
With their conviction thrown out, Palacio and Gutierrez were granted bail. As he left the courthouse, Gutierrez told Keith Swift he is confident he did nothing wrong and today's ruling is proof of that.
Giovanni Gutierrez, Granted Retrial
"I feel good noh."
Keith Swift,
Do you feel you will be free after the retrial?
Giovanni Gutierrez,
"Well more confident boss, right now I am more confident. I am happy to come out of that life I was living in the prison."
Keith Swift,
Do you still believe you used justifiable force that morning?
Giovanni Gutierrez,
"Yes boss."
Simeon Sampson, Attorney for Dennis Palacio
"The Court of Appeal ordered a retrial without even hearing the argument from the appellant. Yesterday they notified us that they want the Director of Public Prosecutions to clear up a preliminary point, which is that these two boys were not ordinary citizens. They were, one, a police officer and the other was a member of the Belize Defense Force and both were members of what our constitution calls the discipline forces and they were being tried as if they were ordinary John Public.
These two men were by law authorized to carry weapons and in fact were on duty that morning. So the question ought to have been settled by the judge, that should have been the directions by the judge to the jury that, remember these are service men on duty, they are qualified to carry arm and they were sent to do an arrest by a superior officer.' And you have to dispose of that matter first before you even get to self-defense as was being argued by their lawyers. The Court of Appeal said that in the absence of such a direction, that important fundamental issue, the men did not get a fair trial so they ordered a retrial."
Keith Swift,
So you client is free right now.
Simeon Sampson,
"Yes they gone, they are free."
Palacio and Gutierrez will remain on bail until the outcome of their new trial. The date of that new trial will be determined by DPP's office. We broke the news to this evening to Aaron's father, Mathias Mariano and he told us that he will await the outcome of the second trial. He wished Gutierrez and Palacio the best.
