By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-eight-year-old Andre Arthurs was acquitted of murder and released from custody on Monday after Justice Nigel Pilgrim ruled that the prosecution had failed to reliably establish that he was the gunman who killed Mark Usher Jr.
Usher, 33, was shot and killed near the corner of Jabiru Street and Fabers Road in Belize City on March 8, 2025. A post-mortem examination found that he died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The prosecution’s case relied heavily on the testimony of a police officer who said he saw a frightened man wearing a blue shirt riding a bicycle away from the area shortly after shots were fired. He later identified Arthurs during a group identification procedure.
Justice Pilgrim found the officer to be a credible witness but ruled that the identification procedure used by police was unreliable. The judge noted that there was no evidence showing whether the other five men included in the group identification resembled Arthurs in age, complexion, height or physical features.
The court also noted several gaps in the investigation, including the absence of gunshot-residue testing, DNA evidence, evidence relating to the abandoned bicycle and any search for the blue shirt reportedly worn by the suspected gunman.
Justice Pilgrim concluded that the court could not be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Arthurs was the shooter and entered a verdict of not guilty.
Arthurs had denied involvement in the murder, telling the court that he was at home barbecuing with friends when they heard gunshots. His attorney, Simeon Sampson, said the reliability of the identification evidence was the deciding issue in the case.
With no other matters pending against him, Arthurs was released from custody as relatives waited outside the courtroom.
The post Andre Arthurs acquitted of 2025 Mark Usher Jr. murder over unreliable identification appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-eight-year-old Andre Arthurs was acquitted of murder and released from custody on Monday after Justice Nigel Pilgrim ruled that the prosecution had failed to reliably establish that he was the gunman who killed Mark Usher Jr. Usher, 33, was shot and killed near the corner of Jabiru Street and Fabers
The post Andre Arthurs acquitted of 2025 Mark Usher Jr. murder over unreliable identification appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
