Attorney Oscar Selgado’s Murder Trial Continues with Voir Dire Procedure

The abetment to commit murder trial of attorney Oscar Selgado continued in the High Court of Belize today with a procedure known as a voir dire (a trial within a trial). The voir dire dealt with the statement of Giovanni Ramirez, the man who alleged that Selgado hired him to kill Marilyn Barnes. The prosecution called three witnesses, the justice of the peace who signed off on Ramirez’s statement, and Wilfredo Ferrufino, the former inspector of police who took the statement. The third witness was Commissioner of Police Chester Williams, who testified that Ramirez had called him regarding Selgado’s request to kill Barnes. Williams testified that he had several recordings of meetings he had with Ramirez, one of which was a three-way call between him, Ramirez and Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl Lynn-Vidal. The prosecution attempted to play the recordings in court, but could not due to technical problems. Outside, Selgado’s attorney, Adolph Lucas, spoke on what will happen since the recording was not played in court.

And while today’s evidence was unable to be presented, it remains a mystery as to what happened to the recordings that mysteriously vanished. Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, explained this morning before he took the stand that the incident points to some level of comprise within the judicial system.  

SELGADO UPDATE 2

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According to the purported hitman, Giovanni Ramirez, he had contacted Selgado to be his attorney for a legal matter. He alleged that, during a meeting, Selgado proposed to waive the four-thousand-dollar legal fee, if he (Ramirez) carried out a hit for him against Barnes.  Back in 2019, leaks of the recordings of the conversations between Ramirez and Selgado made it into the public domain which led to a Police investigation. The case was adjourned to Wednesday, October 11. ////