Photo: Marlon Everett sentenced
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Feb 2, 2024
33-year-old, Marlon Everett aka “Yankee” was today sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole until after serving 28 years behind bars, effective the day he was remanded to jail, April 21, 2018, that’s 5 years 9 months and 12 days on remand, which the judge ordered be deducted.
Everett was convicted on Monday, November 6, 2023, for the shooting murder of Albert Johnson which occurred on April 20, 2018, on Regent Street in Belize City.
In imposing the life sentence, Justice Candace Nanton noted that her starting point for the murder began at 27 years, and she increased it by 2 years due to the aggravating factors, bringing his time to 29 years.
However, consideration was given for the mitigating factors, so she deducted 1 year, leaving him with 28 years to serve. Due to his remand time, which began on April 21, 2018, a total of 5 years 9 months and 12 days were deducted, and so Everett has 22 years 3 months left behind bars to serve for Johnson’s murder.
In his defense, Marlon Everett from the dock told the court that when he heard the shooting he was with his wife at his home in the Rocky Road area, which is not too far from where Johnson was shot and killed.
Everett further told the court that when he heard the shot, he looked out through his window and saw his neighbors coming out to see what had made the sounds he had heard.
According to Everett, the next day the police came looking for him in connection with a murder. Everett said he was detained, questioned and during interrogation, he claims the police told him how they had a video which captured the murder.
The following day, he was charged for Johnson ‘s murder. In his dock statement, Everett also denied knowing the Crown’s main witness. In 2018 and in 2019, the Crown’s main witness had given police statements concerning the murder.
The Crown’s main witness had told police that he, the accused Everett, the deceased, (Johnson) and another man were walking on Regent Street. He said Johnson was walking about six feet ahead when he (the Crown’s main witness), pushed his hand into his pants waist and handed a gun over to Everett, the shooter who crept up behind Johnson and fired two shots in his head.
Despite the murder being captured on footage, the identification of who is the shooter was not clear.
The Crown also called a police witness who testified to being able to identify the shooter as Everett, as he could recognize him in the footage he saw for at last a few seconds. That police officer testified that he had known Everett, the shooter, for over 20 years, not only by face, but also by his structure.