BELIZE CITY, Thurs. July 9, 2020– There was an apparent mix-up this morning for the scheduled sentencing of William Danny Mason and the four other men who were convicted with him last December for the July 2016 beheading murder of Pastor Llewellyn Lucas.
While Supreme Court Justice Antoinette Moore was at the Belize City Supreme Court, some attorneys mistakenly went to the Belmopan Supreme Court. This resulted in Justice Moore having to adjourn the sentencing hearing for Monday, July 13.
Last December, after many unexpected twists and turns and long adjournments, the marathon trial of William Mason, Ernest Castillo, Terrence Fernandez, Keiron Fernandez and Ashton Vanegas ended with guilty verdicts against all of the accused men.
Justice Moore, sitting without a jury, pronounced the guilty verdicts and indicated that sentencing would be done at a later date.
The Crown’s evidence in the case was purely circumstantial, and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lynn Vidal, SC, managed to link the various strands of evidence together to convince Justice Moore of the guilt of all of the accused men.
Pastor Lucas’ head was found in a bucket in the back of Mason’s pickup truck in Belmopan.