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On October 2nd American national Mathew Johnson was busted at the international airport for attempting to leave Belize with a prohibited firearm and ammunition in his checked luggage. Because of the new gun laws, the Missouri resident was sent directly to jail and was held there until today when he was sprung free. He walked after Magistrate Roberto Ordonez told him he had no case to answer. That was in response to a no case submission by Johnson’s attorney Dickie Bradley.

Johnson’s trial began yesterday and the first witness was continental airline employee mark bowman who testified that Johnson had indeed told him about the gun and ammunition in his luggage. But Johnson was arrested after the bag was scanned. And that’s where the case went south because the arresting officer Erwin Ayuso and the police ballistics’ expert Orlando Vera could not agree on whether it was a 9 millimetre or a 40 millimetre gun. That was a key discrepancy because anything over a 9 millimetre would have been a prohibited firearm. No evidence was brought to court certifying it was prohibited.

In fact the gun wasn’t admitted into evidence because Bradley successfully argued that it prejudiced his client when the police amended the charge sheet. They also didn’t follow the chain of custody.

At the end of the prosecution’s case – Bradley made the no case submission and Magistrate Ordonez agreed. Johnson was in Belize for a week visiting a relative.