After deliberating for over four hours today, a jury of nine women and three men were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of twenty seven year old Trenton Smith, charged with the murder of twenty nine year old Tyrone Castillo. Castillo was shot and killed around 10:30 pm on August 30th, 2007, as he arrived at a wake for Crips leader George “Junie Balls” McKenzie that was being held on Mayflower Street. The trial judge, Justice Michelle Arana, told Smith that he will get a retrial.
The chief witness for the prosecution, represented by Crown Counsel, Christelle Wilson, was twenty seven year old Jervis Valencia. Valencia testified that he saw Smith put one arm around Castillo’s neck, then take out a revolver from his pants pocket and shoot Castillo five times in his back.
But Valencia’s testimony conflicted with the testimony of the forensic specialist, Dr. Mario Estradabran who performed the post mortem on Castillo’s body. Estradabran testified that Castillo was shot once in his back, once in his right side and three times in his chest area. Dr. Estradabran also testified that the point of the gun was about three feet away from Castillo when the shots were fired.
Smith took the witness stand and gave an alibi testimony saying he was at home at the time the incident occurred. Smith was represented by attorney Hubert Elrington.
