Jasmine Hartin, she pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence a month ago, but, tonight, after two years of court dates and what she has called the upending of her once charmed life, she is once again a free woman.
And while she wasn't confined she was fined an unprecedented $75,000.00, probably the largest fine for manslaughter by negligence in Belize's history.
It's the culmination of a sordid crime story that 7News has followed from the very beginning. Cherisse Halsall has the story.
When Jasmine Hartin left Belize City's Supreme Court this afternoon she had no words for anyone.
And the same could be said for the once-candid Cherie Jemmott who also refused to comment.
Cherisse Halsall:
"A comment ladies, can we get, how do you feel about the sentencing?"
Cherie Jemmott
"I don't have anything to say."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Do you feel that it's just, $75,000 is that a price for your brother's life, an appropriate price."
Cherie Jemmott
"I have nothing to say, Cherisse. I have nothing to say, excuse me."
The only person were able to speak to was Hartin's co-council OJ Elrington, he told us that the sentence passed down today was a first.
OJ Elrington, Attorney-At-Law
"It is. an unprecedented sentence it is. significantly more than anybody has ever been fined for a matter like this, significantly more."
That sentence includes a $75,000 fine, 300 hours of community service at the YMCA and Hartin's participation in the production of a PSA to advise against drinking and bad decisions.
But this afternoon the Press speculated about whether Hartin, a foreigner will pay or complete any of what has been set down because as a free woman she can simply leave Belize.
Jules Vasquez:
"Is it her plan to leave the country?"
OJ Elrington, Attorney-At-Law
"Well she has the right to leave the country just like you and I so of course it is. that she has the right to leave the country there is no restriction on her anymore for her not to be able to leave the country but she has no intention her life is here in Belize."
Cherisse Halsall:
"But what about that community service Sir she has to serve that before she leaves Belize."
OJ Elrington, Attorney-At-Law
"Well she isn't intending to leave Belize press I'm saying that she has the right to be able to leave Belize that is what I understood the question to be saying but yes she lives in Belize."
And while no Jemmott family members spoke today, over the weekend I asked the victim's oldest daughter what she thought about the prospect of no jail time for Jasmine.
Maya Jemmott, Henry Jemmott's Eldest Daughter
"I want to be mad I do but from the moment that I really grasped the situation that it was a person of her status that killed my Dad I had already been preparing myself for the moment that she wouldn't ever have to touch a jail cell to spend any time, it would be a settlement, it would be a payment to the court and it would just be like that and while it is very hard to accept and I don't think I will ever be happy with it because who will, it's just something that I try not to think about because it would make me more upset than I already am."
"Everyone will say it but it doesn't matter how many times I think about it if anybody else had killed my Dad I would not just be seeing them and that is just the point of the matter, they wouldn't be free to walk around they wouldn't be free to do anything they would be in jail."
"While that is a hard pill to swallow it's just the situation that I am in, it's the cards that I have been dealt and I have to handle it as it comes."
But whether she leaves or stays in Belize this is Hartin's opportunity for rehabilitation and perhaps a whole new life
OJ Elrington, Attorney-At-Law
"Well, hopefully, this is an opportunity for her to start anew but I can't say what comes next for her life, what's next for your life I can't say."
Reporter:
"She has a couple of matters before the court still?"
OJ Elrington, Attorney-At-Law
"I don't know we represent her in this matter I can't say what other matters I know she has one other matter before the court but we don't represent her in those proceedings."
So while Hartin still has smaller legal hurdles - today ended a long and sordid charter that saw endless court dates, press intrusions, and the fear of prison. Freed from that possibility by the court she gets a second chance - if she chooses to stay in Belize - to ditch the wld child image and try to prove that she can become a productive member of society.
And today in court Judge Sandcroft made clear that the $75,000 doesn't include any compensation for the Jemmott family, instead he left that figure to be determined by the civil court.
Hartin's $75,000 court fine will instead go directly to a fund to help overworked and overstressed policemen.
According to Sandcroft the reasons for placing Hartin's fine at the upper end of the scale were the aggravating factors in the Manslaughter by negligence, the fact that she had been drinking while handling a firearm that she was not licenced to use.