3 months ago, we told you how convicted murderer Gregory August won a landmark judgment in the Court of Appeal. His victory made it so that there's no more mandatory sentence of life in prison for persons convicted of murder. We also showed you how students from the Norman Manley Law School were at the Belize Central Prison 2 weeks ago. They were holding workshops to explain to prisoners what this judgment could mean for those who had been sentenced to life before the appeal.
Well, as we told you, August, the prisoner who started it all, isn't stopping there. He'll become the first appellant from Belize to go all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice to argue a criminal appeal. His intention is to not only reduce the sentence, but he wants to completely overturn the conviction for murder against him. He'll now be joined by another prisoner, Alwin Gabb, who was convicted of murder in 2013.
This morning, the judges of the CCJ held a teleconference, case management session with the attorneys for both men and DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal. 7News was there and we spoke to August's attorney after the session:
Eamon Courtenay, SC - Attorney for Gregory August
"It's just a directions hearing for the court to inform us when the matter will be heard which will be in March the 21st. for when we have to file our submissions and completing the record of appeal. As you know both Mr. Gabb and Mr. August are appealing the minimum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. the court of appeal has expressed its view and say that the appropriate sentence for Mr. August would have been 30 years, but we will be dealing with that and the CCJ as well as the whole question as whether in fact he should have been convicted. The evidence in this particular case was purely circumstantial. There was no witness who saw what allegedly occurred and it is just very weak circumstantial evidence that was relied upon by the crown. In our view, the direction is given by the judge just were not sharp enough to focus the jury's mind on what the test was, how to put evidence together. There was no good character direction that was given. So, there are a number of legal issues that we intend to raise. But fundamentally Mr. August is saying that he did not do it. The evidence that was presented to the jury against him was insufficient to sustain a conviction of him and that the sentence even as varied by the court of appeal is too long."
As you heard, the Appeal hearing is scheduled to take place on March 21 in a marathon 4 hour hearing. We'll be there, and we'll tell you how it goes.
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