LAWRENCE Wayne walked out the Georgetown High Court a free man after a 12-member jury found him not guilty of the August 23, 2014 murder of Dexter Lindo.

Trial judge Justice Jo-Ann Barlow told Wayne after the verdict was announced, amid a crowded courtroom, that he was a free man and should stay out of trouble.

And on that score, she told a visibly relieved Wayne that he can step out the courtroom and leave.

Wayne’s handcuffs and footcuffs were removed and he ran out of the High Court onto the busy roadway with his relatives in tow.

After the not guilty verdict was declared by the forewoman after three hours of deliberation on Thursday, Wayne’s relatives cried openly, while the relatives of the deceased Dexter Lindo were in disbelief. They too cried.

The not guilty verdict was unanimous for murder and the not guilty verdict for manslaughter was in the proportion of 11 to 1.

In the absence of defence counsel Stanley Moore and Maxwell McKay, attorney Eusi Anderson represented the defence, while the State was led by Shawnette Austin in association with Tameika Clarke.

The State had called 20 witnesses to take the stand in the August 23, 2014 murder trial of Dexter Lindo.

Government’s Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh testified that he performed the post -mortem on the body of Dexter Lindo which bore multiple gunshot wounds.

Dr Singh gave the cause of death as haemorrhage and shock due to gunshot wounds.

It is alleged that around 13:15hrs on Saturday, August 23, 2014, two men armed with handguns entered the Wayne Beverage Paradise stall at Merriman Mall, Bourda, Georgetown.

Upon seeing the men, the female employee ran and raised an alarm, and a licensed firearm holder responded.

It was further alleged that the two armed men entered a waiting motor vehicle driven by an accomplice and were trailed by the licensed firearm holder in his vehicle.

He subsequently saw the getaway car at Light and Fifth Streets, Alberttown.

The police said the firearm holder confronted a man who had exited the car and entered a shop in the area, during which the man whipped out a firearm and was shot to his abdomen by the licensed firearm holder.

The man, however, managed to escape on foot, but the unlicensed .32 Beretta pistol with four rounds that he had in his possession was recovered and handed over to the police.

The injured man was found at a private hospital where he later succumbed.