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Last night, we took you to the Belmopan Supreme Court for the start of the closing arguments in the murder trial of William "Danny" Mason, Ashton Vanegas, Keiron Fernandez, Terrence Fernandez, and Ernest Castillo. This is the final step, just before Justice Antoinette Moore begins her deliberations. It is an opportunity for the attorneys from both the defense and the prosecution to try and convince the judge about the guilt or innocence of each accused. As viewers are aware, they are all jointly charged with the 2016 murder of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas.

Mason’s attorney, Dexter Todd was the first to make his arguments yesterday, and in the afternoon, DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal began her presentation. She was only able to get through the first half of her arguments, and when the trial resumed this morning, she continued with her presentation. Her focus was on the evidence from the witnesses which she thinks best shows the guilt of each accused men, individually focusing on what she thinks are relevant pieces of evidence which shows why all 5 men are both individually and collectively responsible for Pastor Lue’s terrible killing.

According to the DPP, text message communication between Pastor Lue and William Mason show a possible motive for his killing. In this trial, she was able to get access to the phone records for both Mason and Lucas. And according to the DPP, several days before Lucas was killed he and Mason shared a string of angry text messages. Mason accused him of turning their business relationship sour. From Mason’s perspective, Pastor Lue took advantage of his kindness and swindled him out of money. 

As the DPP puts it, about a week before Lucas was killed, he and Mason were certainly not friends, which directly contradicts Mason’s dock statement. The phone records indicate that Lucas made various attempts to meet with Mason. Lucas was trying to either borrow money from him or get paid for services he feels he provided as Mason’s business associate. Mason kept avoiding his requests for a meeting, until July 15th, 2016, when he suddenly reached out to Lucas to come to his Intelco Hill home to collect a week and a half’s worth of salary.

Later in her closing arguments, DPP Vidal detailed how each of the 5 men was individually guilty of Pastor Lucas’ beheading murder.

Since the attorney for each of the accused men will make their own closing arguments, we’ll tell you what the DPP has to say about that defendant when their attorney gets their chance in court. But, we start tonight with William Mason and Ernest Castillo.

In Mason’s case, the DPP says that Pastor Lucas went to his house on the day of his death at Mason’s request. Also, the black pickup truck that Lucas’ decapitated head was found in belongs to Mason. She also says that he was the person who drove all kidnapped men, including Pastor Lue, to his Outback Ranch. Also, he drove the vehicle with the head from his farm to Sancho’s Bar. The DPP thinks that he is the mastermind to Pastor Lucas’ killing.

In his defense, Dexter Todd argued that the circumstantial evidence the DPP has led is not enough to satisfy a conviction for the crime of murder. Moreover, Mason’s main defense is that he is being framed for the killing. 

His attorney told the court, quote, “It could have been possible for anyone to place a black bucket with the decease’s head in the pan of Mason’s pickup. The possibility for that to happen is overwhelming.â€￾ End quote.

He also asked the question, â€œWhere is the evidence that Mason ordered, paid, or solicited participation in the gruesome murder?â€￾

Another of the accused who has also had his opportunity to address the DPP’s allegations against him is Ernest Castillo. His attorney, Baja Shoman, spent most of the afternoon attempting to discredit the prosecution’s evidence.

According to the DPP, Castillo is individually guilty because he was part of the unlawful detention of David Dodd and the other man. You’ll remember both men accompanied Pastor Lucas to Mason’s Intelco Hill residence on the day of his killing. 

Well the DPP says that he was part of the kidnapping, and he went to the back of the truck, with the victims, who were restrained with duck tape. Also, he was seen coming out of Mason’s pickup when they all went to Sanchos Bar. He also positioned himself with the other men to stop police from search Mason’s vehicle when they took a sudden interest in it that night. Also, the shirt and pants he was wearing that night had blood stains which matched the DNA profile of Pastor Lucas.

Castillo’s attorney, Baja Shoman, doesn’t think that the DPP adequately showed how Castillo is guilty via a joint enterprise. She also pointed out that at no time did David Dodd and the other man ever identify Castillo as one of their captors.

Also, the DPP is relying heavily on video surveillance footage, which was Mason’s own home surveillance system that captured the kidnapping. Well, Shoman argued that at no point is Castillo’s face clearly in the video. The DPP thinks differently, and she told the court that if all the camera angles are carefully studied, one starts to make out each of the accused, due to the way they are dressed, their body language and mannerisms, and the way they walk.

Shoman told the court that this type of identification is unreliable and unsafe, and that a person’s guilt has to be established beyond a reasonable doubt.

As to the forensic evidence against Castillo, Shoman told the court that she is challenging the integrity of the evidence collection process that Belize law enforcement authorities engaged in on the night of the discovery of Pastor Lue’s head. She told the court that from their perspective, there is cross-contamination, which calls the forensic evidence into question.

The closing arguments continue tomorrow with defense attorneys Norman Rodriguez and Bryan Neal. If there is enough time, Illiana Swift will make her presentation, but she is also scheduled to go on Monday if the court runs out of time.