Lawyers battle over alleged ammunition stash of Corporal Elmer Nah’s family members

Published by BBNTEAM at February 4, 2023

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Posted: Saturday, February 4, 2023. 9:26 am CST.

By Aaron Humes: Senior Magistrate Baja Shoman will rule next Friday, February 10, whether the common-law wife and brother-in-law of interdicted Corporal of Police Elmer Nah have a case to answer in respect of keeping ammunition without a gun license.

Nah, unrepresented, has yet to make his defense and remained silent in court today as defense counsels Richard “Dickie” Bradley and Leeroy Banner spoke on behalf of Epiphania and Manuel Caliz, respectively.

Banner went first, citing the evidence as being of a “weak and tenuous nature” and citing the leading authority of Galbraith as granting the trial judge the opportunity to stop the case at this juncture.

Banner argues that the Crown charged his client with possession of both Remington .223 live rounds and 5.56 live rounds but failed to deliver the latter for testing to the National Forensic Science Service and did not address the gap in court with witnesses. He also suggested the exhibits may have been tampered with.

Bradley said that his client would clearly have had nothing to do with the ammunition found in the vehicle as she is not a police officer like her husband and brother, but is a public servant with a young child. In fact, he contended, she had been released after giving a statement, but then re-arrested and charged at her home later on.

Bradley argued that his client could not have known of the ammunition being found in a pouch of a bulletproof vest and there was no evidence suggesting she did, which is a key element in proving the charge. Even the photographic exhibits do not appear to show any 5.56 live rounds found among the items confiscated by police.

Prosecutor Elrington maintained that having verified that the ammunition submitted was live, the question remains whether the accused were licensed to have those items in their possession at the time they were found, which the Crown maintains they did not. All the rest is a mere distraction, she concluded.

If the Senior Magistrate rules in favor of the Calizes their charges could be dropped; if not, all three will be invited to make their defense before a final ruling is given.

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