You'll probably remember the names, Orel Leslie, Tyron Meighan, and Brandon Baptist. They are jointly accused of the November 2012 murder of James Noralez.
They were acquitted in 2015, but in 2017, DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal appealed and convinced the Court of appeal to order a retrial. Leslie was granted bail in March of year, but because he violated his court-ordered curfew the night of his release, bail was revoked, and he was put back on remand.
All 3 defendants have been back in court on trial for the murder of James Noralez, but the case has been having a few delays. And at the same time, Orel Leslie is suing the management of the Belize Central Prison alleging that the prison management violated his constitutional rights while on remand.
He and his attorney, Audrey Matura, were supposed to be making their case in this civil suit before Justice Courtney Abel. But, because of the delays in the criminal trial, he can't present himself in his civil suit.
He had hoped to be in court describing this alleged violation of his constitutional rights, but his attorney had to tell the judge that he couldn't attend, due to the ongoing criminal case. Justice Abel didn't appear too happy that he was only just now being told that Leslie couldn't attend his case, even though the court had set aside 4 days to accommodate the hearing of his claim.
There was a bit of testy back and forth between Justice Abel and Matura, and that's when the attorneys for the defendants, including the attorney representing the prison, began pressing the judge to dismiss the case. The judge said that he was minded to entertain the dismissal, but following the interjection of Matura, he instead granted the adjournment on the premise that Leslie would pay $5,000 in court costs to the defendants, since 4 days of their time, was basically wasted. So, to get an opportunity to be heard in court, he now has to find that money, or else his lawsuit will be dismissed.
Virgilio Murrillo, the CEO of the Belize Central Prison, attended today's hearing along with 5 prison officers, and they were prepared to act as witnesses in this lawsuit. We had an opportunity to speak with Murrillo about a few general elements of Leslie's complaint against the prison, and here's what he had to say:
Virgilio Murrillo, CEO - Belize Central Prison
"Essentially he is accusing the prison of treating him inhumanely and not affording him his right to a fair trial. One of the things I want to say that in a prison there is offences that prisoners commit against what you called prison discipline. I should the opportunity to say that in a prison it's all about order and discipline and Orel Leslie pretty much was being sanctioned for violating prison rules and he has taken that to and interpreted it to be one of violating his constitutional right by not affording him a fair trial. I am not a lawyer so I can't speak to what he means when he says that. All I know is that he violated prison rules and prisoners when they violate prison rules they are discipline under the prison's act. That's it. But I can't say much at this point in time, because this thing is before the court and I dont want to go ahead of myself on this matter."
Reporter
"Do you feel as though the discipline that Mr. Leslie faced for violating prison rules was justified?"
Virgilio Murrillo, CEO - Belize Central Prison
"Definitely. Remember people go to prison for committing crimes or accused of committing crimes and in a prison it's a very volatile place, we cannot have people reach prison with deviant behaviors and then they go to prison and continue display deviant behaviors. You will agree with me that all over the world are called "departments of corrections" and if you understand the word "correction" it means that you go there to get yourself corrected. Whatever wrong you may have done in society that cause you to end up in prison, you shouldn't go there and want to continue living the same kind of life."
We'll keep following to see how this one plays out.
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