By Breaking Belize News Staff: After spending one year and seven months on remand, 46-year-old Ernie Valentine Zelaya walked free on Monday after changing his plea to guilty in connection with firearm and ammunition charges dating back to 2024.
Zelaya appeared unrepresented on Monday morning before the Chief Magistrate in Court #1, where he changed his not guilty plea to guilty for the offences of kept firearm and kept ammunition without a gun license.
The court indicated that if Zelaya pleaded guilty, he would receive a one-third discount on sentencing, which would effectively amount to time served. However, had he maintained his not guilty plea, he would have been granted bail and the matter would proceed to trial.
Upon hearing that a guilty plea would result in time served, Zelaya changed his plea.
The Chief Magistrate imposed a sentence of one year and six months imprisonment. Since Zelaya had already been on remand for one year and seven months since his first arraignment on July 8, 2024, the court ordered time served. He was told he was free to go.
Zelaya was initially arraigned on July 8, 2024, on two gun-related charges. At that time, he became emotional in court, stating, “I am guilty of the offense because I had the gun but for a reason.” With tears running down his face, he told the court he feared for his life after being beaten and claimed he had been sleeping in his car instead of his home due to threats from an alleged gang member in his neighborhood.
After a brief court adjournment to allow him to calm down, Zelaya changed his plea to not guilty and was remanded to prison pending a bail application to the High Court. However, that application was never made. His case was adjourned multiple times, and in the absence of the magistrate who had carriage over the matter, no other magistrate intervened. As a result, Zelaya remained on remand for nearly two years without bail being considered or granted.
The charges stem from an incident on Friday, July 5, 2024, at approximately 12:30 a.m., when police officers conducting mobile patrol between Miles 7 and 8 on the Philip Goldson Highway stopped a beige Toyota Corolla taxi with no lights on.
Police signaled the vehicle to stop. The driver, later identified as Zelaya, reportedly acted suspiciously and took an extended time to produce his driver’s license. Officers conducted a search of his person and vehicle.
While nothing incriminating was found on Zelaya, a search of the taxi revealed a rusty firearm under the driver’s seat. When asked to produce a gun license, Zelaya was unable to do so. According to police, he allegedly told the officer, “Boss please give me a run, I just the protect myself.”
The firearm’s magazine was removed and found to contain ammunition. Zelaya was subsequently detained and charged with kept unlicensed firearm and kept unlicensed ammunition.
So after 19 months behind bars, Zelaya is a free man.
The post Ernie Zelaya walks free with time served after year-and-a-half over 2024 gun bust appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: After spending one year and seven months on remand, 46-year-old Ernie Valentine Zelaya walked free on Monday after changing his plea to guilty in connection with firearm and ammunition charges dating back to 2024. Zelaya appeared unrepresented on Monday morning before the Chief Magistrate in Court #1, where he changed
The post Ernie Zelaya walks free with time served after year-and-a-half over 2024 gun bust appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
