Court of Appeal Upholds Conviction in Pastor Llewellyn Lucas Murder Case

The Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction of William “Danny” Mason and four others for the brutal 2016 murder of Pastor Lewellyn Lucas. Mason, Ernest Castillo, Keiron Fernandez, Terrence Fernandez, and Ashton Vanegas were all found guilty of Lucas’ murder back in 2020 and sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after thirty-five years. In March of this year, they launched an appeal and their three attorneys made arguments on as many as eleven grounds. Those grounds included that the crown had not authenticated surveillance footage used as evidence in the trial and that there had been a miscarriage of justice in the way the trial was handled. Today, in a 60-page judgment, the justices of appeal said that the prosecution had managed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the men were, in fact, responsible for Lucas’ death. The justices ruled that there had not been any miscarriage of justice so the appeals were dismissed and the convictions affirmed. The men still have the option to take the matter to the Caribbean Court of Justice, which is Belize’s final appellate jurisdiction court; however, there has been no word of an intended appeal thus far. Luca’s death made national headlines and shocked the nation back in July 2016 after his severed head was discovered in a bucket of ice, in the pan of Mason’s pickup truck. What followed was a firestorm of revelations about the Cayo businessman, including that fact that he had multiple identities including Danny Ouellet, Ted Ouellet, Danny Mason, and Raj Ouellet, each with their own gun license. It was also revealed that Mason was being investigated on charges of kidnapping and extortion. During the Mason saga, it came to light that Mason was connected to prominent ministers within the previous government administration, including former United Democratic Party Leader and National Security Minister John Saldivar. Investigations were also launched into the Vital Statistics Unit, after it was discovered that Mason had fraudulently applied for a birth certificate, claiming that he was born in Crooked Tree Village to one James Mason and his common-law wife.