Jaheim Castillo Acquitted of Murder; He Remains in Prison

Jahiem Castillo, now twenty-three, was just sixteen when he was accused of murdering thirty-seven-year-old Cyril Gladston Jones, a father of two, who was tragically shot and killed at his doorstep in front of his family. Castillo has now been acquitted of murder charges. Police had identified him based on the account of a contractor who didn’t see the shooting but claimed the shooter fired at him shortly after Jones’ murder. Castillo walked free after his attorney’s no case submission was upheld by the judge. However, he remains in Belize Central Prison for another offense he was convicted of in 2024. The acquittal came from Justice Candace Nanton, who agreed with attorney Orson ‘OJ’ Elrington’s argument that the prosecution’s case was weak.

 

Orson “OJ” Elrington, Attorney-at-law

“The prosecution began this case by essentially making an application for the witness statement of the, essentially one of the witnesses, to be admitted in because they claim that they were in fear. The court ruled that that evidence could have been admitted without the witness coming to court.  However, subsequent to that to other witnesses were brought by the prosecution and at the end of that, we made a submission of note that there was no case to answer.  Essentially, we submitted that the evidence was so slender, was so tenuous that no jury could safely convict on it and the judge upheld that because the time in which the witness claim they had the shooter in view, the lighting conditions, the distance from where they were from it, the contrasting evidence between the witnesses presented by the prosecution itself was contradicting in terms of their description of the shooter.”