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HomeNewsArchivesEMERALD LADY DEFENDANTS FACE ANOTHER COUNT

EMERALD LADY DEFENDANTS FACE ANOTHER COUNT

A federal grand jury on St. Thomas has handed up a third, superseding indictment of three young men in the case of the robbery of the Emerald Lady jewelry store and the shooting death of its owner, U.S. Attorney James Hurd announced Friday.
The new indictment charges Devin Hodge, 18, Irvine Hodge Jr., 21, and Jason Hull, 23, with the federal offense of "tampering with a witness by killing," in addition to the charges in previous indictments of "interference with interstate commerce by robbery" and first-degree murder. The new indictment incorporates those charges with the additional tampering count.
All three charges are in connection with the May 8, 1998, robbery of the downtown Charlotte Amalie jewelry store, the killing of owner Larry Davis and the wounding of Gwendolyn Rawlins, a security guard at the store. The tampering charge relates to an earlier armed robbery of the same store.
According to a release from Hurd's office, the tampering count charges that the defendants "knowingly killed Larry Davis with intent to prevent his testimony in a District Court criminal case against Irvine Hodge Jr." In that case, it said, the defendant faced robbery and firearms charges in connection with the robbery of the Emerald Lady on Nov. 10, 1995.
The two earlier indictments, the release noted, allege that four armed, masked individuals entered the store on May 8, 1998, and stole jewelry valued at about $250,000; that Davis complied with an order to open his safe; that the security guard approached the store and one of the defendants then shot at her several times; and that one defendant fatally shot Davis at point-blank range as the four fled the store.
The following maximum statutory penalties apply for the charges in the latest indictment: witness tampering by killing, death or life imprisonment; interference with interstate commerce by robbery, 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; and firearm first-degree murder, death. There is no death penalty in the Virgin Islands.
The three defendants remain in custody.

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