By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-three-year-old Jamal Brackett of the Mayflower Street area walked free from the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning after the charge of murder against him was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence.
Brackett, who had spent eight months on remand, appeared shortly after 9 a.m. in Court #3 in the presence of his attorney, Ronell Gonzalez, when a memorandum from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) instructed the court to withdraw the charge.
The directive followed Brackett’s last court appearance on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, when he was provided with what was described as full disclosure in the matter—35 pages of documents and four DVDs—and the case was adjourned for a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) scheduled for Monday. Instead of proceeding to a PI, the prosecution formally withdrew the charge.
Brackett was initially arraigned on Monday, May 19, 2025, in connection with the shooting death of 61-year-old Carlos Enriquez Avelar, a Belizean mason of the Belama area. Avelar was fatally shot on Labour Day, May 1, 2025, near the corner of Coney Drive and Sunrise Avenue on the north side of Belize City.
According to police reports, at about 8:15 p.m. on May 1, officers from the Crimes Investigation Branch (CIB) Northside responded to information of shots fired on Coney Drive, where they found Avelar’s lifeless body with multiple gunshot wounds. Investigations indicated that Avelar was walking along Coney Drive when he was approached by two men on a motorcycle, one of whom reportedly fired several shots before the assailants escaped toward Sunrise Avenue.
The scene was processed by an Scenes of Crime technician, who retrieved expended casings and blood swabs. Avelar was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital at 9:29 p.m.
Footage captured Brackett as he exited the courthouse a free man, and both he and his attorney briefly spoke about the outcome and his release after months behind bars.
The post Jamal Brackett walks free after 8 months on remand for Carlos Avelar murder appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Breaking Belize News Staff: Twenty-three-year-old Jamal Brackett of the Mayflower Street area walked free from the Belize City Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning after the charge of murder against him was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence. Brackett, who had spent eight months on remand, appeared shortly after 9 a.m. in Court #3 in the
The post Jamal Brackett walks free after 8 months on remand for Carlos Avelar murder appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.