And he's not the only attorney that found himself on the opposite side of the courtroom today. For the past two months, an accusation of rape has been looming over attorney Orson "OJ" Elrington. And today, he was finally charged and arraigned in court. But he's not going down without a fight, and has retained four attorneys to fight this case. Courtney Menzies has this story.
This is attorney Orson "OJ" Elrington heading into the Magistrate's Court on Coney Drive. While he's been here many times, this is the first that he's the accused, not the defence attorney.
Elrington was arraigned on a charge of rape after two women made a report against him on January 13th.
Though it's been almost two months, the DPP finally gave the green light to the police yesterday.
She told us the reason for the delay.
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"I believe the charge has already been drafted, I believe it was sent to me while I was in court for me to have a look at it so I have a look at it now when I return to my office. I'm sure they're proceeding with expedition."
Courtney Menzies:
"We know that people were complaining that there was this delay, they thought that charges wouldn't have been filed. I know that you were trying to ask the police to look for as much evidence as they could, what was the final thing that made you say, okay, we can levy charges now?"
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"I met with the complainants in the matter and based on what they said to me, we did additional work and it was at the end of that process that we were in a position to make a decision."
According to the initial report from the women, they met Elrington at Thirsty Thursday back in January and requested a ride home. On the way, he invited them to his house, where they continued drinking.
One of the women then alleged that Elrington had sex with her against her will.
In court today, Elrington was represented by four attorneys - his father, Hubert Elrington, Norman Rodriguez, Arthur Saldivar, and Michelle Trapp.
The senior Elrington and Rodriguez spoke to us after the session.
Hubert Elrington, SC, Attorney
"We are always a law abiding family and we are always a group of people who help the country and we continue to be that way. Whatever might be the ups and downs and the vicissitudes, we will continue be, because we believe in Belize, we believe in the system of justice, we believe that its going to be very difficult for any of them to defeat us in a criminal trial."
Norman Rodriguez, Attorney
"You can never be surprised and I can say in a kind of a non-serious way you can never be surprised because the police may or may not have needed to investigate further, but they chose to do it that way. But also, you have to consider the learned madam DPP who has to review what evidence the police may bring in the statement that are recorded and make a decision. That's the second reason."
"So whichever it is, it has happened today, but you ask if I am surprised? I'm kind of wondering why it took this long."
During the arraignment, Elrington was granted bail of $8,000 plus one surety of the same amount. There was no objection to bail and Elrington was able to meet it immediately and left the courtroom at 4 this afternoon.
Elrington's bail conditions include surrendering his passport and signing in at the police station everyday.
