CARLTON STRINGER - 6 Months (1/2012)/ Accused: Linetan Belizaire - Lauderdale Lakes FL

The man accused of murdering two women and a 6-month-old child in a Lauderdale Lakes apartment in January — but sparing an eleven-month-old boy he allegedly fathered with one of the victims — was scheduled to be released from Broward County Jail on Friday after a grand jury declined to indict him due to lack of evidence.
Lineten Belizaire, 21, had been held without bond following his arrest Jan. 22 while the Broward State Attorney’s Office took his case to a grand jury, whose indictment is required by Florida law in all first-degree murder cases.

But the grand jury, whose deliberations are secret, could not find enough evidence to indict Belizaire, who faces three counts of first-degree murder for the Jan. 15 shooting deaths of Natasha Plummer, 25; Plummer’s son, Carlton Stringer Jr., 6 months old; and Octavia Barnett, 21.

Barnett’s son, 11-month-old Ladanian Belizaire, was found unharmed at the bloody murder scene. Barnett’s mother, Sonya White, identified Lineten Belizaire as the boy’s father during a custody hearing in January. Lineten Belizaire has denied paternity.

Shortly after the custody hearing, Miami-Dade police arrested Belizaire as he was returning to his girlfriend’s house in Miami-Dade. Broward Sheriff’s deputies had been led to Belizaire in part by a Facebook comment that Barnett had posted shortly before the murders are believed to have taken place. She posted that her son’s father had arrived and was waiting outside the Lauderdale Lakes apartment, which she shared with Plummer.

It is unknown if police have any other evidence linking Belizaire to the crime.

Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti issued a written statement expressing his disappointment with the Grand Jury’s decision.

“Our detectives worked tirelessly to compile the evidence and establish probable cause,’’ Lamberti said. “It was sufficient to obtain an arrest warrant for murder in the first degree but apparently not enough to satisfy the Grand Jurors.’’

Belizaire’s defense attorney, Alexander Michaels, disagreed, and faulted the police for focusing only on his client.

“The police, as they usually do, focused on one person only, and they wear blinders,’’ Michaels said. “They don’t look at any other possible suspects, any other angles. I think they focused only on my client, and in my opinion for no good reason, and the Grand Jury told them so.’’

Michaels said the Facebook posting is insufficient legal evidence to establish his client as the murderer.

“There is nothing in the Facebook to indicate my client was there,’’ he said. “There’s lots of speculation.’’

Still, Michaels declined to offer an alibi for Belizaire’s whereabouts on the night of the murder.

“I can’t talk about that,’’ he said.

Belizaire will be released on his own recognizance, with no conditions or monitoring devices. Michaels said he did not know precisely when his client would be freed, but that he was scheduled to be released some time Friday.

Michaels added that Belizaire intends to remain in South Florida and exonerate himself of the charges, even though he is allowed to travel freely.

“My client is innocent, claims to be innocent, and we stand by that declaration,’’ Michaels said. “He wants to be vindicated.’’

Belizaire’s case is not closed, however, nor is it dismissed.

Under Florida law, the state attorney’s office had 40 days from the date of arrest to return an indictment for first-degree murder, Michaels said. Once that deadline was met, which happened Friday, the accused must be released.

Prosecutors and police will continue their investigation for additional evidence of Belizaire’s alleged role in the murder, said Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for the Broward State Attorney’s Office.

But Michaels said prosecutors have only 140 more days from Friday to return an indictment before Florida law allows the murder charges against Belizaire to be dismissed.

Left unresolved in the case is the paternity of Barnett’s son and a permanent home for the child, who is currently with close relatives, said Mark Riordan, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Children and Families, which is overseeing the child’s custody proceedings.

No father is listed on the boy’s birth certificate, and Belizaire has denied, under oath, fathering the child, Riordan said.

“No one else has been able to establish paternity,’’ he said.


Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/02/2672437/man-charged-in-lauderdale-lakes.html#storylink=cpy
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/02/2672437/man-charged-in-lauderdale-lakes.html

They should not have arrested him without proper evidence. If he is guilty he just might get by with murder because of that fatal error.
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Had he not been arrested there would be no statute of limitations. Now, they have 140 days.