19 year-old Michael Wallace was acquitted before Justice Troadio Gonzales today of 2 counts of attempted murder. He was accused of shooting at and injuring Belize City residents, Terry Felix and Edward Thompson.
The prosecution, represented by Crown Counsel Sharmela Williams called several witness to testify, but the main witness was Thompson, one of the victims.
He told the court that at around 5:30 p.m. on April 4, 2009, a young man, who he recognized as Wallace rode up on bicycle to their location on Fabers Road and fired 4 or 5 shots at them.
Felix suffered to 2 gunshot wounds to the upper left hip, and Thompson also suffered 2 gunshot injuries to one of his feet. The assailant rode off, and police arrived shortly after to render assistance to the injured men.
Another major witness was a police officer who testified that he was on Alan Pitts Crescent while responding to the shooting, and saw the accused tossing a silver object behind a house. The officer continued retrieved a chrome.38 special revolver with 5 expended shells.
This firearm was also tendered as evidence against Wallace in the trial. After the prosecution closed its case, Wallace gave a statement from the dock in which he claimed that he wasn't there at the time of the shooting. He said that he was playing basketball on the court near Cumberbatch field.
After deliberating for almost 3 hours, the jury of 9 returned a not-guilty verdict, thus acquitting Wallace of the charges. Although he was acquitted, he was not freed because he is currently serving 2 years for a firearm conviction.
