Since 2014, 41-year-old Devon Jones, a resident of Rhaburn Ridge, located at Mile 37 on the Phillip Goldson Highway, has been waiting for his full trial after being charged with the maim of Francis Gill.
In September of 2014, Gill and Jones were patrons at the Key Ley Restaurant on Freetown Road in Belize City. The two reportedly exchanged hard words. It was shaping up to be a minor disagreement, but according to police investigations at the time, Jones escalated that dispute by jumping into his Chevy Blazer, slamming the vehicle into Gill's body, and crushing his leg against the wall of the restaurant. Gill had to get an above-the-knee amputation, and as soon as he was well enough, he sued James in a civil claim and won a couple hundred thousand dollars in compensation.
And then, in December 2018, Gill and his wife returned to their home in the Coral Grove Area of Belize City when a gunman attacked and killed him.
But, it did not mean that because Gill is now deceased, Jones was automatically free of those criminal charges. On the contrary, the prosecution decided to elevate the charges against him a few years later. Jones was initially charged with aggravated assault and maiming, but the prosecution agreed that he should face the offense of attempted murder.
Today, when that case came up before Justice Ricardo Sandcroft, the court attempted to indict Jones on attempted murder. Still, the attorneys representing the prosecution and the defense discussed the matter. At the end of that discussion, Jones decided to plead guilty to the lesser charge of dangerous harm, which the court accepted as the resolution of this criminal case.
This afternoon, court reporter Anita Nembhard spoke with Jones' attorney, OJ Elrington,. Here's how he explained the process in which Jones went from having to answer an allegation of attempted murder to a guilty plea to the lesser charge of dangerous harm:
Orson "OJ" Elrington, Attorney
"Mr. Jones was initially charged with maim and aggravated assault. At some point when the matter was brought up to the supreme court the charges were elevated to attempted murder. Today at the beginning of our hearing we came to this realization which as you know caused significant confusion for the court. Thankfully however, after discussions with the prosecutors we came an agreement and my client Mr. Jones after receiving legal advice agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of dangerous harm and so with that plea, the court has made the indication although not having finalized as yet that it would result in a fine and so of course as you know attempted murder can result in the ultimate consequence of life imprisonment and so my client decided that he did not want to even attempt to try and challenge that based on the evidence that we had before the court and so he agreed to plea guilty to dangerous mean of harm which the court has indicated will result in a fine."
Justice Sandcroft has scheduled his sentencing hearing for Wednesday, December 6, 2022.
