Photo: Emerson Garnett (left) and Leroy Haulze (right)

by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)

BELIZE CITY, Tues. May 9, 2023

After presenting the testimony of 13 witnesses, 5 of them voluntary, the Crown, represented by Senior Crown Counsel Sheneiza Smith, closed its case today in the court of Justice Nigel Pilgrim, against Emerson Garnett and Leroy Haulze, charged with the murder of Jose Hilario Diaz.

Attorney Leeroy Banner, who is representing Garnett and Haulze, will make a submission that his clients don’t have a case to answer to. Justice Pilgrim has asked him to make his submission in writing and indicated that he has until Friday, June 2, to do so. He has asked Senior Crown Counsel Smith to submit her response to Banner’s submission in writing on or before July 3, and he has adjourned the case until July 7.

Diaz, a businessman who had a clothing and shoe store at 42 Cemetery Road, was shot and killed at his store at about 5:43 p.m. on July 16, 2019.

To prove its case, the Crown is relying on video footage that was recorded at the scene and which allegedly showed two men approaching the store, and one of them running from the scene with a gun in his hand. The footage was admitted into evidence at the trial, and several police officers who viewed it during the trial have testified that although the footage was poor, they could identify the assailants.

The murder is believed to have been a case of mistaken identity.