7 News Belize

New Sentence for Convicted Killer Ernest Dangalang
posted (December 18, 2018)
Ernest "Dangalang" Thurton Jr, the 26 year-old man who was convicted of the double murders of Frank James and Robert Young, will spend 29 years in prison for those crimes.

That's the sentence that Justice Adolph Lucas handed him this morning in the Supreme Court. You'll remember that the judge allowed him to make a mitigation plea a week ago, in which he begged for leniency, and expressed remorse for gunning both men down and killing them in October 2012.

The judge took that into consideration, as well as the fact that, up until the outcome of this trial, he had no prior criminal record. He was, however, convicted of killing 2 men, and so the court was obliged to ensure that the punishment fit the crimes. Following the new sentencing guidelines for persons convicted of murder, Justice Lucas said that he was sentencing Thurton to 35 years in jail. Because he spent almost 6 years on remand awaiting trial, the judge deducted that from the total, which means that Thurton will only spend 29 years. The judge did warn him that after he served his time, he was eligible for parole, but that this wasn't automatic, which means that he has to abide by the prison's rules and serve his time without misbehaving.

On September 12, in a trial that was without a jury, Thurton was found guilty of the murders of 50 year old Robert Young and 41 year old Frank James. Both men were gunned down and killed on October 25th, 2012, at a dock yard on North Front Street. Another man, Jasper Brannon, was also charged jointly with Thurton. But on August 6, Brannon was acquitted on a no case submission that was made by his attorney, Leslie Hamilton. Thurton was represented by attorney, Anthony Sylvestre while the Crown was represented by Crown Counsel Portia Ferguson.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize