‘Weak Evidence’ Led to Juan Novelo’s 2023 Murder Acquittal

High Court Justice Candace Nanton has released a 29-page judgement explaining why she found Juan Carlos Novelo not guilty of murdering his common-law wife, Leslie Margarita Verde, in Caye Caulker in 2023.

Justice Nanton found that Verde was unlawfully killed but said the Crown failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Novelo was responsible for her death.

Justice Nanton also found problems with Verde’s daughter’s testimony, including material inconsistencies and differences between her initial police statement and her later evidence in court. She rejected parts of the daughter’s account, including her claim that she saw Novelo touching her mother and later moving her body.

The remaining case relied on surveillance footage and other circumstantial evidence. The footage placed Novelo at the residence during the relevant period but did not show him killing Verde, while the medical evidence could not establish exactly when she died.

Justice Nanton concluded that the remaining evidence did not form a strong enough chain of evidence to prove that Novelo caused Verde’s death. She also stressed that the acquittal was not based on accepting Novelo’s account but on the Crown’s failure to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.