He is accused of murdering a teenage boy inside a nightclub two years ago and today, Dean Hyde had a brief few minutes of freedom when the prosecution's star witness choked on the witness stand. When that happened, the case against Hyde had to be withdrawn.
Hyde was charged for the October 9th 2004 shooting death of 16-year-old Dual Wagner Jr. inside Bismark nightclub. The trial began on Wednesday when the crown's star and only witness Carlton Lord Jr. told the court that he saw Hyde shoot Dual Wagner. But that trial had to be aborted after a juror told the judge he was related to Carlton Lord and couldn't proceed with a clean conscience.
A new jury was empanelled yesterday and today prosecutor Audrey Matura called Carlton Lord once again as her star witness. Should have been a straightforward repeat of what he said two days ago, but it seems that in the intervening 48 hours, amnesia must have set in. Today when asked if he remembered what happened on October 9th of 2004, Lord told the court he couldn't. Matura was forced to enter a nolle prosequi and presiding Judge Troadio Gonzalez discharged the jury.
Dean Hyde was released and immediately re-arrested for the same murder. 7NEWS understands that Carlton Lord might also face charges of perjury for his sudden bout of amnesia.
