After half a day’s delay, at 2:55 this afternoon Alex Bautista, 21, stood to hear his fate in the courtroom of Justice Troadio John Gonzalez after having pleaded guilty last Wednesday to reduced charges of manslaughter and arson.
He had originally been charged for murder and arson in the death of his cousin, Jerson Hernandez Ramos, 25, who was fatally stabbed and burnt to death in an apartment at #1A Victoria Street in October of last year.
When court began at 2:35 p.m., Justice Gonzalez heard pleas of mitigation from defense counsel, Carlo Mason. Mason told the court that Bautista, a naturalized Belizean of Guatemalan descent, had accepted his fate, acknowledged the errors of his ways, and was ready to submit himself for rehabilitation.
Baustista, whose education concluded at Standard Six, is a construction worker and father of two. According to Mason, he had no previous criminal record and disassociated himself from alleged ties to the notorious MS-13 gang, who had allegedly threatened a witness in the case.
At sentencing time, Justice Gonzalez commended the prisoner for saving the court unnecessary expense by pleading guilty, but told him that the minimum sentence on both counts was necessary due to “the heinous nature of the crime,” namely the stabbing and subsequent burning of the body.
With that, the judge committed Bautista to serve 25 years for the manslaughter charge and 8 for the arson, with the sentences to run concurrently.