People convicted of a crime sometimes file appeals seeking to have their sentences overturned. Appeals can take years to resolve, with decisions resting solely with the presiding judges.
One citizen, who asked not to be named, said she has been waiting five years to sell property left to her in a will, but the property has been held in probate because a relative refuses to negotiate. As a result, she has been unable to obtain a clear title.
The relative had not seen or been in contact with the original homeowner, his father, since birth, the inheritor stated to the Source. The son insists he wants to go to court because he believes he is entitled to more money than she has offered on two occasions.
“We did everything right. We did everything we should have,” she said. The woman has been forced to turn down two buyers and said there has been no resolution. She said she does not believe her attorney can do anything further.
In another case, a former Virgin Islands senator convicted on three counts in 2018 has petitioned the court to overturn his sentence. Former V.I. Sen. Wayne James’s first appeal to vacate the conviction was filed in October 2021 and was denied. James then refiled, and the appeal has remained before Judge Robert Molloy.
James said he will continue to file appeals.
Initially, James was arrested in Italy on corruption charges. Prosecutors said he fabricated invoices and fraudulently requested funds from the Legislature to pay personal debt and assist with his reelection campaign to a second term.
“Why would I take money for my reelection when I received campaign donation checks every month that we routinely returned? We didn’t accept donations,” he said. “That was some of the information that the defense never mentioned. Nor did they talk to my assistant who could verify my attitude toward donations.”
According to the former one-term senator and fashion designer, the funds from the Legislature were used to research Virgin Islands history in Denmark. James said he had discovered an additional female leader of the historic 1878 Fireburn uprising and was in the process of writing a book about the event. Prosecutors said James received more than $90,000 for the project and used approximately $70,000 for personal expenses, including taxes.
Documents stored with other Legislative papers that James said would have supported his defense were destroyed during the 2017 hurricanes.
James said his attorney did not present a defense after the prosecution rested its case, although some witnesses were questioned. He said he expected more than 30 witnesses to testify on his behalf, but none were called. He said his counsel, Omadare Jupiter, told him after the prosecution rested that no defense was necessary because the case presented by prosecutors was not compelling.
“Is it the policy of public defenders not to present a defense for a defender proclaiming his innocence?” James asked rhetorically. He also questioned whether his public defender faced disciplinary action, stating that counsel “did the exact opposite of what he was supposed to do.”
James was found guilty and sentenced in January 2019 to three concurrent terms of 30 months in prison and ordered to repay nearly $90,000 in installments.
James said he was housed in seven prisons during his incarceration, including facilities in Italy and Pensacola, Florida, and that he paid his financial obligation in full.
In October 2021, James filed a motion to vacate his conviction based on ineffective counsel.
“What he put on as the closing argument, should have been what he put on as a defense,” James, a licensed attorney, said. “But a closing argument is not evidence so the jury only has prosecution’s – a one-sided coin.”
After Judge Robert Molloy denied the appeal, James filed a motion to reconsider.
James said the motion to reconsider, accompanied by a memorandum of law, has been pending before Molloy since March 2024. He argues the judge applied the wrong law and ruled prematurely.
Clerk of Court Kia Sears told the Source the appeal has been in the court’s possession for more than a year. Only the judge can determine when to rule on matters before the court, Sears said.
There have been public complaints regarding case backlogs in the Virgin Islands courts.
