A Grand Court jury has found Justin Kyle Jackson and Eric Brian Williams-Soto both guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of a retired prison officer in a botched robbery of a gambling shop last year.
Jackson, who fired the shot that killed Harry Elliott Jr. on 25 April 2022, and his accomplice Williams-Soto had both been on trial for murder and possession of an unlicensed weapon.
The jury acquitted both men of murder, instead finding them guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. They found both guilty of possession of the weapon.
Defence counsel for Jackson had argued during the almost two-week-long trial that Jackson had accidentally fired the handgun after slipping on a wet, tiled floor and being confronted unexpectedly by Elliott, who was attempting to leave the numbers shop as the two robbers entered.
The jury of six men and six women deliberated over their verdict for one day, after presiding Judge Cheryll Richards summed up the case on Wednesday morning. The jury returned with the manslaughter verdict around 11:30am on Thursday.
The jurors told the court they came to a unanimous decision on Jackson, and a majority decision, 10-2, on Williams-Soto on the manslaughter charge.
Both men stood in silence as the verdict was delivered. Seated at the back of the courtroom’s viewing gallery were Soto’s parents, who were equally silent.
Elliott’s family members, who were also present, could be seen nodding their heads in approval.
Both admitted trying to carry out robbery
Both defendants had admitted taking part in the attempted robbery at the small commercial complex on School Road, George Town.
Jackson, 25, did not take the stand during the trial.
Williams-Soto, 22, in his testimony, claimed he did not know Jackson was armed during the robbery, until the gun was fired. He told the court that he had not found out Elliott had been killed until two weeks after the shooting.
A CCTV camera captured video of the two men – with Jackson unmasked and armed, and a masked Williams-Soto behind him – entering the tiny lobby of the premises. It showed Jackson going through the door of the gambling shop, and within seconds, backing out the door and firing the gun.
Elliott, who had been preparing to leave the numbers shop just as the robbers were entering, had been hit in the head by the bullet fired by Jackson, the court heard.
No video was captured of the scene inside the shop.
Jackson’s attorney, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins, KC, had told the jury that, contrary to the prosecution’s suggestions that the shooting was a deliberate act, “the gun went off accidentally”.
Crown prosecutor Candia James-Malcolm argued that the shooting was no accident, and that both Jackson and Williams-Soto were responsible for Elliott’s death.
The challenge for the jury
Because both men accepted that they attended the location with the intention of robbery, the question the jury had to ultimately answer was whether Jackson intentionally pulled the trigger, or if the gun went off accidentally, as his defence attorney claimed.
The prosecution’s case was that Jackson went to the numbers shop armed, with the intention of robbing Keron Cupid, a former police officer who operated the gambling shop.
According to James-Malcolm, Elliott was an “innocent bystander” who had borrowed a small amount of cash from a friend to gamble on the numbers that day and was killed by Jackson who deliberately fired the gun for reasons unknown.
“Maybe he was tired, maybe he was trigger-happy,” she told the jury. “But that doesn’t change the fact that he fired a deliberate shot… nothing has arisen on the evidence of this case [that] should convince you that this was an accidental shooting.”
In her closing argument, Bennett-Jenkins called on the jury to set aside the prosecution’s case in favour of “an alternative version of events”.
Describing the CCTV video footage of the shooting, which was shown repeatedly to jurors in the course of the trial, she said, “You can see that as he is backing away, his hand is going up, just as both feet buckle as he slips on the elevated welcome mat. As his hand is going up, the gun goes off – clearly an accident as he didn’t even have the time to brace for the recoil.”
She also pointed to the testimony of Cupid, who, while giving evidence for the prosecution, told the jury that Jackson looked shocked when the gun went off.
“The prosecution’s own witness gave evidence that said, after the shooting, the look on [Jackson’s] face was as if he was bewildered and like he was saying, ‘I didn’t mean to do that’,” said Bennett-Jenkins.
She added, “This is an incontrovertible account that the gun was discharged by accident, because he went on to repeat about [Jackson’s] bewilderment and not understanding what happened.”
Although Williams-Soto did not pull the trigger, James-Malcolm said, his actions leading up to, during and after the shooting made him equally guilty.
Williams-Soto explained under questioning by his lawyer Charles Miskin, KC, that on the day Elliott was killed, Jackson – with whom he had been friends for three years – had called to ask him if he wanted to drive to West Bay, where Williams-Soto’s grandmother lived. When Jackson arrived at his home, he was in a green Honda CRV driven by Cain Thomas, whom Williams-Soto said he did not know.
Miskin told the jurors that, when contemplating his client’s fate, they need only think of three words – “sure”, “known” and “loaded”.
“You must be sure that Mr. Soto had known Mr. Jackson had a loaded gun,” said Miskin. “Nothing less will do. That is to say, you cannot simply think that he might have known that Mr. Jackson had a gun.”
He added, “If you cannot be sure about all of these facts, then the prosecution has failed to prove their case, and failed to prove Soto’s guilt. Remember, he needs not prove his innocence.”
Following the convictions, Jackson and Williams-Soto were remanded into custody and a sentencing date has been set for 25 Jan., at which social inquiry reports for both men and a victim impact report from Elliott’s family are expected to be presented.
Additional reporting by Norma Connolly.
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