Belizean Man Could Face New Trial After US Conviction Overturned

A Belizean man serving a lengthy prison sentence in the United States could receive a new trial after Pennsylvania’s highest court overturned his conviction because of prosecutorial misconduct.  Jermaine Belgrave was convicted in June 2021 following a trial connected to a drug transaction that ended in gunfire outside the Courtyard by Marriott Erie Bayfront Hotel in Pennsylvania on February 7, 2019. Investigators alleged that Belgrave travelled from Chicago to Erie with three other men. During the encounter, another man reportedly opened fire, and Belgrave returned fire before being seriously injured. Police later recovered a package containing approximately 239 grams of heroin.  Belgrave was found guilty of possession with intent to deliver, carrying a firearm without a license and reckless endangerment. In November 2021, he was sentenced to seven and a half to fifteen years in prison.  However, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated Belgrave’s conviction and sentence on March 26. The court found that the prosecutor knowingly called an alleged accomplice to testify despite being aware that the man intended to remain silent.  The Supreme Court ruled that the tactic amounted to prosecutorial misconduct because jurors may have treated the witness’s silence as evidence against Belgrave.  A judge is now considering whether the charges should be dismissed entirely or whether Belgrave should be retried.