Today in the Supreme Court, Justice Herbert Lord sentenced Kimberly McLaughlin, also known as Kimberly Brannon, 41, to a term of life imprisonment following her conviction on a charge of murder.
On November 16, 2011, a jury of six men and six women found her guilty of the death of her common-law husband, Anthony “Antics” Herrera, 42, a race jockey and caretaker of the Castleton Race Track in Burrell Boom, Belize District.
Herrera died from a single chop wound in the right side of his neck early in the morning of December 13, 2008, at his wooden bungalow house on the racetrack grounds.
McLaughlin told her niece, a police corporal, that early in the morning of December 13, two men had gone to the home, one of whom chopped Herrera with a machete stuck in the wall next to his bed. They allegedly retrieved a bag from outside the premises and detained McLaughlin for a few hours before finally leaving without attacking or injuring her.
But after police questioned her over the course of that weekend, she admitted to chopping Herrera after an argument, supposedly because she was tired of his unwanted sexual advances to her. She claimed in the statement that she was forced to regularly provide anal sex to Herrera, which she despised.
McLaughlin repudiated that statement in open court, testifying from the witness stand that on the afternoon of December 15 she was taken by case investigating officer Sergeant Dennis Myles to the Racoon Street Police Station, where he and Assistant Commissioner David Henderson both allegedly threatened and coerced her into giving the statement.
In court, the two officers denied doing so.
At sentencing, defense attorney Carlo Mason called one character witness, prison officer Agnes Nunez, who spoke of working closely with McLaughlin for the last two years, because McLaughlin acted in the position of prefect of the female ward of the prison. She described her as humble, calm and responsive to her duties and orders.
However, the Crown, represented by Crown Counsel Kaysha Grant, was not seeking the death penalty for this incident, and the laws of Belize mandate a sentence of life imprisonment in such circumstances, which Justice Lord was constrained to hand down.
Mason recorded to the court his formal intention to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal, which must be done within 21 days of conviction.
The sentence is with effect from November 15.
McLaughlin is the second woman to be convicted of murder this year. The first was Viola Pook, 54, who on July 8 was found guilty by a jury of the murder of her husband, Orlando Mai Vasquez, in Rancho Dolores. That incident took place on December 31, 2008 about two weeks after Herrera’s murder.
Kimberly McLaughlin was previously charged with murder under the name Kimberly Brannon in May of 2006.
In Orange Walk Town, Brannon’s former lover, Paul Gonzalez, and his new girlfriend, Ruby Mendez, were stabbed multiple times with a 6-inch nail file. Gonzalez died of his injuries, but Mendez survived the attack.
The case did not succeed at trial, and Brannon was freed of the murder charge against her.