Bladen 12 Trial Progressing Slowly

The voir dire (trial within a trial) for the Bladen 12 is only about halfway done, according to prosecutor Alifa Elrington. The case continued before senior Magistrate Baja Shoman yesterday but again ended in an adjournment. Outside, Prosecutor Elrington said that she only called four witnesses and has seven more to go. Within the voir dire, the defense is challenging witness statements given by two of the defendants, on the grounds that police beat them into a confession. As per court procedure, the substantive trial cannot continue until the issues within the voir dire have been addressed. The case was adjourned until March 25, when the voir die will continue. Elrington stressed that the matter is time-consuming and is having an impact on other matters being handled by the four defence attorneys and two prosecutors involved.  She explained that the prosecution has a total of 78 witness statements entered as evidence, with as many as sixty witnesses to call in the trial. The twelve defendants, four of whom are former police officers, are accused of facilitating the landing of a narco plane in southern Belize back in 2021.