The assistant territorial public defender representing the teenager accused of killing Jordan “Dutty Heart” Jones is asking a V.I. Superior Court judge to seal legal proceedings from public access due to the “tremendous amount of pre-trial publicity.”
Jones, 38, was shot and killed shortly before 1 p.m. on June 5 near the Christiansted boardwalk, and he died at the Juan F. Luis Hospital. Another bystander was grazed by a bullet and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said at the time. Surveillance footage and witness interviews led police to arrest Angelo Javier Carmona later that day. Authorities did not publicly identify Carmona, who was 15 at the time of his arrest, until the V.I. Justice Department had the case transferred to adult court.
The killing prompted an outpouring of collective grief from community members and elected officials. Carmona’s attorney, Dwayne Henry, wrote in a motion to seal the case filed on Dec. 15 that the ensuing publicity prompted threats to his client.
“Since the filing of this case, the Defendant has been subjected to public hostility, threats, and inflammatory commentary on social media, including threats from individuals associated with the deceased,” he wrote. “Continued public access places the Defendant’s personal safety and well-being at risk.”
Henry added that the public attention compromised his client’s right to a fair trial by “fueling public speculation and presumption of guilt in the community.”
“Public exposure of a minor accused of a serious offense serves no legitimate public interest when weighed against the risk of foreseeable and irreversible harm,” he wrote. “Given the Defendant’s age, vulnerability, and the heightened risk of retaliation, sealing is necessary to protect both the integrity of these proceedings and the Defendant’s constitutional rights.”
Superior Court Judge Venetia Velazquez has yet to rule on the matter. During a discovery conference Wednesday on St. Croix, she allowed Henry time to refile the motion to include legal bases for the request.
Henry has also asked the court to order a psychiatric evaluation and noted Carmona’s age in a Dec. 5 motion as well as the fact that he had “a disruptive childhood, including his father being convicted of a domestic sexual offense” and that he “seems delusional and may not be in touch with reality.”
