<p><span style="font-size:13px;">A Salvadoran national and a Guatemalan teenager, who were both accused of the murder of U.S. national, Mary Jane Blondell in Indian Creek, Cayo in July 2005, are home free tonight. Twenty-eight year old Carlos Rene Granillo and eighteen year old Rene Lopez Morentes were acquitted of murder on Tuesday in the Belmopan Supreme Court. Their acquittal in the courtroom of Judge Antoinette Moore came after a seven-day void dire turned up that the men had been badly beaten to give caution statements. Both accused persons took the stand saying they were beaten and forced to make the caution statements. Their attorney, Simeon Sampson, also submitted that the statements were not given voluntarily by Granillo and Morentes due to the improper conduct of the police. The prosecution called seven witnesses to the stand, but in the end the judge ruled that the statements were inadmissible so the twelve member jury was directed to acquit the two men of murder. Blondell was stabbed twice in the neck in July 2005, during a home invasion/burglary at her home in Indian Creek Village. She died as a result of the neck wounds.</span></p>
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