Belize Court Of Appeal Dismisses Appeals by Petzold and Lopez

BELIZE CITY, Wed. March 10, 2010.

Appeals by Roman Petzold and Francis Lopez, convicted of rape and sentenced to 10 years, were dismissed yesterday by the Belize Court of Appeal. Petzold and Lopez were convicted on June 16, 2009. They were sentenced 6 days later. Their victim was a high school student.

 The incident occurred on April 13, 2005. The victim was taken to a house by her boyfriend who had sex with her there. Apparently, after her boyfriend was done he turned her over to his friends who were at the house and two of them raped her. A third man, Albert Forman, was also charged with rape but the charge was withdrawn.

Attorney Hubert Elrington, who represented Petzold and Lopez, had appealed on several grounds. One ground was that the record does not reflect that the jury was sworn not to discuss the case with anybody. A second ground was that the father of the victim allegedly spoke to the foreman of the jury while the trial was going on. The third ground was that there was no evidence that it was a joint enterprise. The second ground was abandoned because it could not be substantiated by the appellant.

With regard to the first ground the Court of Appeal asked Elrington, the counsel for the appellant, and Senior Crown Counsel Cecil Ramirez, the counsel for the respondent, to look at the case of Wilfred Lauriano in which the ruling was that objection has to be made at the time the trial is going on.

The Belize Court of Appeal will give its reasons in writing at a later date.

| | | | | |