SAN PEDRO, Ambergris Caye, Thurs. Mar. 31, 2022– Last Thursday, March 31, 2022, Jasmine Hartin and her attorney, Richard “Dickie” Bradley, made another scheduled return to the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court for a preliminary inquiry into the charges that have been brought against her. At the end of that inquiry, Hartin, who was charged with manslaughter by negligence for the shooting death of Senior Superintendent of Police, Henry Jemmott, was informed that she must now present herself to the Belize City Supreme Court at the opening of the next court session on June 13, 2022.

Since early March, Hartin and her attorney have been reviewing over 160 articles of evidence previously submitted by the prosecution. Based on those articles of evidence, which were handed over to Hartin during multiple hearings as part of a process geared at providing her with full disclosure of the evidence that would be brought against her in trial, San Pedro Magistrate Christina Perrera determined that the case was fit to be tried in the Supreme Court.

After the preliminary inquiry, attorney Richard “Dickie” Bradley shared with local media that prosecutor Roman Andrews presented twenty-six statements and twenty-five exhibits to the court which encompassed all available evidence that can be used to build a case against Hartin. The Crown Counsel in the Director of Public Prosecution’s (DPP) Office will now have to determine which of those articles of evidence will make it to the Supreme Court.

Bradley also told reporters that he and his client are willing to consent to a paper committal, which would make it possible for witness statements and other forms of evidence to be presented to the court without witnesses being present. Those statements and pieces of evidence would be inventoried as exhibits. Bradley said that the procedure would not be challenged until a later stage in the judicial process. As a result of the Magistrate’s ruling, Jasmine Hartin must now report to the Supreme Court in Belize City (rather than to the San Pedro Magistrate’s Court) at the start of sessions in June.

The $30,000 Supreme Court bail met by Hartin in June of 2021 thus remains in place, and she is still to report daily to the police station in San Ignacio. Hartin’s attorney also further clarified that the fact that she now reports to the Supreme Court for her hearings, does not necessarily indicate that her trial will begin at the start of Supreme Court sessions in June. He instead stated that her case will be placed in a queue and that, given the current state of affairs in Belize’s judicial system, it may take some time before a presiding judge determines a date for case management and for the trial to proceed.