Jordan Manderson, 18, was found not guilty of murdering Marcos Duran on the night of 11 March, 2010.
Justice Charles Quin delivered his verdict Tuesday morning in the judge-alone trial. Mr. Quin said there was insufficient evidence to satisfy him that Mr. Manderson was involved in the killing.
Attorneys for Mr. Manderson made a bail application for him to be released following his acquittal. The teen has other matters pending before the court.
He was later released on bail.
Mr. Duran, 29, was shot twice in his head outside an apartment building in West Bay. The Crown’s case was that, as Mr. Duran was known to sell numbers and collect money, the shooting occurred during a planned robbery. Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards brought the charge against Manderson on the basis that he was one of the robbers.
The charge of murder was based on joint enterprise, because the Crown alleged that the fatal shooting happened during the robbery. .
The principle of joint enterprise is set out in the Cayman Islands Penal Code: When two or more persons form a common intention to prosecute an unlawful purpose in conjunction with one another, and in the prosecution of such purpose an offence is committed of such a nature that its commission was a probable consequence of the prosecution of such purpose, each of them is deemed to have committed the offence.
Mr. Manderson, whose lower left leg was fractured by a bullet that same evening, initially told police he had been shot in another area of West Bay. When told his DNA had been found in blood at the scene of Mr. Duran’s shooting, he admitted going to the apartment building. However, he said, it was to buy ganja.
Mr. Manderson denied taking part in any robbery or shooting.
Evidence included cell phone records showing the times of communication between Mr. Manderson’s phone and two others and the locations of those phones at the times of the calls.
Ms Richards was assisted by Crown Counsel Candia James.
Attorneys David Fisher and Lucy Organ comprised the defence team.
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Come on guys. Didn’t it seem like too much of a coincidence, two people shot in the same area…how many shell casings were found? I don’t know all of the facts, but it sounds like a better investigation could have been conducted by phone than the one that was done here.