When 29 year old Jessie Escobar was fatally shot back in September 2021, the community of Santa Familia reeled into shock and responded with outrage. Escobar - an unarmed, off duty BDF soldier - was killed by another soldier at the village store where Escobar was shopping with his family. And it was all caught on surveillance cameras.
Escobar was attempting to de-escalate a confrontation between a patrol team, consisting of two soldiers and one officer, and some men at the store. However, in sworn statements from two members of that team, they said he was acting in a threatening manner.
For those untrue statements, the DPP charged them with perverting the course of justice - and today in a resounding judgement Magistrate Baja Shoman found them guilty. And, tonight, the DPP is using the judgement to send a message to all lawmen who seek to try and twist the narrative - when the videotaped evidence is clear - as, for example, is the case in the Budna kidnapping.
And tonight to drive her point home, two lawmen who gave the false statements are in jail pending sentencing which the DPP will push to make custodial - meaning they have to spend time for the crime. Courtney Menzies has this story.
29 year old Jessie Escobar was at a store in Santa Familia after a day spent by the river when he was shot in the chest by his law enforcement colleague. The entire ordeal was caught on camera - including the reaction of his wife and daughter, both of whom witnessed the incident.
Four years later, two of the officers who were a part of the patrol that had confronted Escobar were convicted of "Perverting The Course of Justice" after they were found to have misrepresented the chain of events.
Belize Defence Force Private Ramon Alcoser and Police Corporal Juan Carlos Morales told the court that Escobar advanced threateningly towards them, however, the surveillance footage showed otherwise. The DPP said this decision now serves as a warning for those cops who consider creating a false narrative to protect their own.
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"We have felt before that sometimes law enforcement officers would have not told the entire truth in matters in order to shield their colleagues who may have shot or killed persons. Within this person case we had incontrovertible evidence to show that the version of events given by this soldier and this police officer was entirely fabricated."
"I believe it's a warning to law enforcement that moving forward, they should stop and think before they try to fabricate an account. We are not saying that this is done routinely or repeatedly, but I am certain that it has happened in the past, perhaps just as a warning that it should not happen in the future."
The DPP explained that the judge made two determinations - one on the state of the defendants and the other on what was actually shown in the video.
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"First she found that the statements had been given and that the defendants were in a proper state of mind to have given the statement. Because part of their defense was that they were tired and they were hungry and that they shouldn't have been made to give those statements but our evidence was that they did not indicate at any time that they were not in a position to give those statements and that they gave them of their own free will."
"Then she went through the actual statements themselves to show what had been said by each of the defendants and then she went through what the wife of Jessie Escobar had said in her evidence and then you would have seen painstakingly from what she herself observed from the recording. And as you may recall, the recording showed very clearly that Jessie never reached out and grabbed anyone's gun. It showed very clearly that he was not behaving in any aggressive manner towards the person who eventually shot him, but in their statements, they were painting a picture that these civilians were behaving in a very aggressive manner, and that Jessie, who was a soldier himself but was off duty, was threatening Private Raheem Valencio and going to once in with an intention to disarm him, and the magistrate found that that was not actually supported by the video evidence."
And while sentencing is set for next month, Vidal believes the men will spend time behind bars.
Cheryl Lynn Vidal, DPP
"Definitely a custodial sentence in my view. This is not the kind of offense, and it was an offense committed by law enforcement officers, not the kind offense that would see a non-custodial sentence being imposed."
The lawmen will be sentenced on December fourth and remain remanded until then. They are represented by Ellis Arnold and Marcel Cardona.
