After a week-long trial, Renaldo Bernard Hall was acquitted Friday of the murder of 40-year-old Sidney Brice, Jr. a little over a year ago.
The trial got underway in the Supreme Court last Monday before Justice Hartman Longley and ended with an 8-4 not guilty verdict.
Hall had his case fast-tracked to the Supreme Court back in April via a voluntary bill of indictment (VBI).
The Morgan Lane man was arraigned in a Freeport Magistrates Court in June of 2009 for Brice’s murder.
Brice was gunned down in the street in the area of Redwood Lane shortly after 7:00 p. m. on June 6, 2009.
A concerned citizen who watched it unfold reportedly phoned police that several men in a vehicle were chasing a man and gunshots were being fired.
When the police arrived, they were directed to a residence in the area of Redwood Lane where they discovered Brice’s lifeless body lying motionless on the ground.
He was clad in a white singlet and plaid short pants and was barefoot at the time.
On examining Brice’s body, the officers discovered what appeared to be a gunshot wound in the left arm pit and a second wound to the stomach.
Hall reportedly subsequently turned himself in to police and was charged with Brice’s murder four days later.
The murder of Brice was recorded as the third for Grand Bahama last year. A total of 11 homicides were recorded for the island in 2009 while 87 were recorded for the country.
Attorneys Vernal Collie and Erica Kemp represented The Crown and Attorney Carlson Shurland acted on Hall’s behalf when the trial opened last week.
The defence called five character witnesses and Hall gave an unsworn statement from the dock.
Following the verdict, Attorney Shurland noted that it was a fair one.
“Having regards to the evidence I think in this particular case that was a fair verdict and I never question what the jury does,” he said.
