_{Photo: (l-r) Camryn Lozano left and right is Albert Gill walked from murder}

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. June 6, 2024

Late this evening, two Ladyville residents accused of the killing of another Ladyville man are home free of that charge after their no-case submission, made a week ago, was upheld today by the sitting Justice, Madam Candace Nanton of the High Court.

Camryn Lozano, then 18, now 22, and Albert Gill were jointly charged for the Monday, July 20, 2020 murder of Egbert Baldwin aka “Eggie”, 22.

In upholding the no-case submission, Justice Nanton noted in her ruling that the court was unable to conclude that the evidence was reliable. The court was unable to determine if blood found on a slipper was there long before the murder. The evidence presented to the court was that the DNA (of one of the accused) was found on a slipper in the area where the murder was committed; but the court said that the slipper being found in the area wasn’t enough circumstantial evidence to determine that it was the two accused persons who shot the deceased, because the accused lived in the area.

The judge further added that, while one of the Crown’s witnesses placed one of the accused men in the vicinity of the shooting area, it doesn’t necessarily mean he is the shooter; thus Justice Nanton concluded that, when she took the prosecution’s case to its highest, she could not safely convict the men. The judge said that after careful consideration she found no evidence of identification, no evidence of what the lighting condition was on the night of the shooting, no evidence of recognition, no evidence of a joint enterprise except for the DNA which suggested that two firearms were used, and so she had to dismiss them of the charge.

Earlier, Justice Nanton went over key elements of the prosecution’s case in determining whether or not there was a case before the court made out against the men by the Crown.

Those pieces of evidence came from the first responder to the murder, a police officer, Patrick Gennity.

Gennity, the first person to arrive at the shooting scene, testified that when he arrived at the house of the shooting, he recognized the person who had been shot as “Eggie,” whose name is Egbert Baldwin, whom he had known for 5 years.

“Eggie, who did this to you?” Gennity said he asked the wounded man.

And as he got closer, Eggie said, “Please help me.” And that’s when he, Gennity, said he leaned over Baldwin, (the deceased) and saw where he had been shot, and that’s when he said Eggie told him, “It was Lozano and Beans.”

He said Eggie said again, two times more, “Camryn Lozano and Beans shot mi.”

Justice Nanton noted that the post mortem said Baldwin, the deceased, was shot from behind, and that he received 3 gunshot injuries, one which proved to be fatal.

Other evidence that unfolded in the trial suggested that when the doctor was asked if he could say if it was one or two guns used to commit the murder, he could not say.

Another witness for the Crown testified that at around 7 p.m., Eggie came to her house to borrow money, and a little while after he left her house she heard about the shooting.

But with no evidence of the position of the shooters, Justice Nanton was left with more questions than answers. In the end she concluded that the evidence linking the men were more circumstantial and not at its highest to convict them.

With nothing outstanding before the court, Lozano and Gill were set free, into the arms of their loved ones who were waiting outside the court for them.

Last week Wednesday, May 29, 2024, attorneys, Senior Counsel Hubert Elrington and Norman Rodriguez made no-case submissions, asking the court to not allow the men to answer to the charge, as the Crown did not produce enough evidence to prove the charge.

Lozano and Gill had been on remand for 3 years and 11 months.