43 year-old Glenford "Bucket" Bermudez, the ex-BDF soldier who was convicted and sentence to life in prison for killing his wife, is tonight on remand awaiting a retrial after the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction today.
In April of 2011, his case was heard before the Supreme Court where evidence was presented that on November 22, 2007, he shot his wife in the head at close range with a shot gun, killing her instantly.
After his case was traversed several times to the next session of the Court of Appeal, it was finally heard to completion today, and none of the hard evidence against him mattered.
Without even an attorney to advance his case, the Justices of the Appeal Court tore into the material from the case, and they zeroed in on what they referred to as misdirection of the jury by the trial judge.
President Justice Manuel Sosa used words like "egregious", "misleading", and "gross" when referring to the trial judge's direction to the jury. He also said that Bermudez's unsworn statement was, quote, "carelessly thrown at the jury." End quote.
And expanding on his concerns he made two strong statements; he remarked, "The jury was subjected to contradictory and confusing directions." And finally, he said, "It's unfair to the accused."
After hearing the response from DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, the court ruled that Bermudez's appeal was allowed.
President Justice Sosa informed Bermudez that the court was unable to enter him into a not guilty verdict because in the actual trial, the prosecution produced compelling evidence against him. The court, however, decided that in the interest of justice, he deserves a retrial. So, the conviction was quashed, the life sentence was set aside, and the court ordered that he must remain on remand while he awaits his new trial.
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