Inspector Christopher Martinez’s Appeal Denied; Sentence Upheld

Inspector Christopher Martinez will have to spend the rest of remaining three of his five-month sentence in prison after his court appeal was dismissed today.  Martinez appeared before Justice Candace Nanton, with his attorney Senior Counsel Hubert Elrington. According to the judge, she dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the sentence given to him was appropriate.  Attorney Elrington spoke with court reporter Anita Nembhard after the ruling.

Hubert Elrington, Attorney: “The learned judge of appeals, sitting at the high court level felt that the magistrate had observed the legal requirements and the sentence was not unduly harsh and would not cause the ordinary Belizean say  on Albert Street in Brodie’s area to be startled or alarmed by the harshness of the sentence. So she decided that she was not going to interfere with the sentence. She also brought up gratuitously that a sentence appeal can be increased as well as decreased. And she wanted to know from the DPP whether she was applying to have the sentence increased. The learned DPP indicated to her that they had not appealed the sentence and she would not be jumping into that at this stage.”

Inspector Martinez had pleaded guilty to wounding businessman Aaron Flowers, was sentenced to five months in prison on September 13.  The appeal came after Martinez determined that the sentence was excessive. Attorney Elrington noted that he took issue with today’s proceedings, as it was expedited, leaving him unprepared to properly defend his client.

Hubert Elrington, Attorney: “The  convicted man had two applications before the court. One was a notice of appeal and two was an application to have the sentence stayed until his appeal was heard and determined. The learned trial judge decided that instead of having the appeal stayed or the application would stay heard today, she was going to hear the appeal today and that would obviate or make unnecessary or render moot the application for a stay. I would have preferred that the learned trial judge would have given us a little bit of notice that the appeal would be heard today because it’s not fair in my view to have the claimant’s attorney in the dark about when the appeal is going to be heard, he should at least be given a day to prepare, knowing that tomorrow the appeal will come up and so he can go in front of the court prepared to put the best arguments forward for his client.”

Elrington says that Martinez is now considering whether or not he will take his case to the Court of Appeal. We note that a major point of contention in today’s proceedings was Martinez’s affidavit submitted along with appeal. In paragraph 7 of the affidavit, Martinez said that the Chief Magistrate was naive of gang culture and that his sentence might embolden gangs to target police officers. Elrington says he does not feel the Chief Magistrate interpreted the statement the way Martinez intended it.