Tonight, Attorney Oscar Selgado is a free man after his conviction was overturned this afternoon. He made modern history when he was found guilty of abetment to commit murder upon Marilyn Barnes back in March of 2024 and was sentenced to 10 years behind bars - the first attorney in decades to face a custodial sentence.
But after less than 2 years, he's out and back at home.
And while he's now able to spend Christmas with his family, will he be taking legal action? And can his newfound freedom be short-lived once the case goes to the CCJ for appeal?
We spoke to Selgado's attorneys over Zoom and Courtney Menzies has this story.
This is attorney Oscar Selgado walking out of the Belize Central Prison this afternoon after serving 21 months of his 10 year sentence. That's after his conviction for abetment to murder was quashed and he was acquitted by the Court of Appeal today.
The overturning of the conviction occurred virtually and Selgado was represented by attorneys Arthur Saldivar, Michelle Trapp, and Darrell Bradley. After the session, Trapp explained that for them, this appeal was about fighting the injustice that befell their colleague.
Michelle Trapp, Attorney
"From the appeal, the hearing of the appeal and from the questions that were asked, from that day we sensed that the court were seeing our arguments as it relates to fairness of the trial and in particular when it comes to the adducing of the recording into evidence, those recordings and asking the question whether or not the admission of those recordings was fair and you look at everything in totality whether or not Mr Selgado had a fair trial. We sensed like okay it went well however you never know because until the judgement is handed down. But we were optimistic, we were prayerful, Mr Selgado is a colleague, he's a friend and we looked at this case from the standpoint that if that kind of injustice could happen to a colleague, an attorney at law, my God what could happen to a regular citizen who has no knowledge of the law."
And according to the judgment, the Court of Appeal found that, quote, "the admission of Mr Ramirez's hearsay statement was wrong for being unfair, coupled with the importance of that statement to establishing the case for the prosecution, is sufficient for us to allow this appeal." End quote.
And as Saldivar explained, the DPP's case fell apart because there was no proof that the audio files existed, and Selgado never actually got to face his accuser.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney
"Where they went wrong was seeking to attribute the disappearance of those recordings to Oscar Selgado. Outside of that, they never went to the original source of the recordings to reproduce them, the prosecution had at its disposal an SD card that was taken from a phone purportedly being the phone of Giovanni Ramirez, at least the phone that he was using. They could have referenced that SD card to reproduce the so-called missing audio files. So the audio files were never truly missing in my estimation. But the fatal flaw in the prosecution's case was the fact that they were utilizing the element of fear to justify Ramirez not coming to trial but at no point did they ever suggest to him that he could have appeared virtually so they didn't do all within their power to secure his appearance so that it is one of the things that made it patently unfair because they deprived the accused of facing his accuser."
And now that Selgado is free, will he take any legal action against the prison? And do they expect the DPP to appeal? Saldivar said they're awaiting further instructions.
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney
"Mr Selgado reserves all his rights. He has not indicated what he's going to do yet, I believe right now he's looking to see after his ailing mother who had a stroke, she's 85 or 86 years old. I'm thankful that he was able to get this judgement now, that he can go and see his mother because although I had written to the authorities at the prison, I had received no response for him to have been given a visit to his mom. This man had been spending months on end in the hole for no reason at all."
Reporter
"Do we expect an appeal?"
Arthur Saldivar, Attorney
"I believe after the dust settles and the DPP gets a chance to read the judgement, in her deliberate wisdom she may determine what she wants to do, I cannot speak for her. But if it comes, it comes, and if not well so be it as well."
We note that the judgement did not say that the recordings were improperly admitted.
