Mario Flowers was convicted yesterday of gunning down a policeman outside The Tribune building back in 2007.
A jury found Flowers guilty of the murder of Constable Ramos Williams, 26, by a unanimous decision. His co-accused Sylvester Aritis was found not guilty of the officer’s murder by a count of 8-4.
Aritis was however found guilty of the attempted murder of another police officer by a unanimous decision.
Flowers and Aritis were both charged with the attempted murder of PC Williams’ partner, officer Antoine Curry.
PC Williams was on mobile patrol in a marked police car with other officers in the area of Collins Avenue, near Doctor’s Hospital, around 2am on December 29, 2007, when they reportedly spotted a group of men in a Nissan Sentra.
The police signaled the vehicle to stop, which it did, but two men went running from the car. Officers Williams and Curry gave chase to the men. Officer Curry said he recognised Flowers because he was his cousin. He had also testified in court that he had been involved in a shootout with Aritis.
Defence attorneys claimed Officer Curry had accidentally killed his partner, who died from a gunshot wound to the upper left chest and was discovered lying behind a trailer in the back of the Sign Man building, a few yards away from The Tribune.
The defence attorneys also questioned the whereabouts of Officer Curry’s gun, which had been taken for ballistic testing, but went “missing” from the armoury at the Central Detective Unit.
