He was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to 24 years for raping an 11 year old girl but Jose Hueso has another shot at freedom. That is because the Court of Appeal has quashed Heuso’s conviction and ordered a new trial.
The judges on the Court of Appeal say that trial Judge Herbert Lord committed grave irregularities in the summation. One of them was to suggest to the jury that there was certain evidence which supported the victim’s version of events when under the law it wasn’t applicable.
Also they found that the trial judge suggested to jurors that they could use the fact that Jose Hueso chose not to testify against him. Hueso’s attorney Orlando Fernandez had originally argued to the court of appeal that the presiding judge did not direct the jury to disregard a prejudicial statement made by a juror. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal on that ground.
Jose Hueso was remanded into custody pending a new trial in the January session of the Supreme Court. The incidents allegedly occurred in Las Flores on January 13th and 14th of 2006. He was convicted on July 18th of 2007. Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Lynn Branker Taitt represented the DPP’s office.
