BELIZE CITY, Wed. Dec. 11, 2019– Lloyd King, 25, who was indicted for the March 4, 2013 murder of Ronald Rivers, 28, entered a guilty plea for the lesser charge of manslaughter when he appeared in the Supreme Court of Justice Marilyn Williams yesterday, Tuesday, December 10.

After King agreed to plead guilty to manslaughter, Crown Counsel Sheringe Rodriguez amended his indictment to reflect the change.

Today, the court heard a mitigation plea on King’s behalf from his grandmother, Lonette Maskall.

King’s grandmother testified that he had a rough life, and she attributed a part of his rough life to the fact that he lost both his mother and grandfather at an early age.

Maskall told the court that those losses may have been the reason that he took the wrong road in life. She begged the court to show leniency on her grandson.

Justice Williams has set February 20 as the date when King will learn his fate.

On March 4, 2013, Ronald Rivers, 28, a popular basketball player and tour guide, was driving a car on Youth for the Future Drive. The car began having mechanical difficulties and Rivers pulled off the street to see what the matter was.

Before he finished checking the car, however, he was ambushed by King, who rode up on a bicycle and shot him once in the face.

Rivers was rushed to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, but he succumbed to his injury three weeks later.

After shooting Rivers, King attempted to ride his bicycle across the Bel-China Bridge, but he was apprehended by a sergeant and Belize Defence soldiers who were heading from the north side to the south side, where the shooting had just occurred.

In his testimony, the sergeant told the court that he heard the gunshot and saw King riding away from the scene. The sergeant went on to tell the court that he pursued King and caught up with him.

He testified that when he searched King, he discovered a .38 revolver on him.
King is being represented by attorney Kathleen Lewis.

Feature photo: Lloyd King