More than two weeks of testimony in the trial against four St. Croix police officers charged with federal and local crimes ranging from rape to witness tampering came to an end Friday.
District Court Judge Raymond Finch spent the better part of the afternoon going over the 31 charges against Officers Ronald Pickard, Dean Bates, Renaldo Philbert and Victor Suarez with the 11-woman, one-man jury.
It had been expected that closing arguments would made after Finch issued his instructions. But shortly before 5 p.m. he excused the jury for the weekend — because at least one member is a Seventh-day Adventist whose sabbath begins at 6 p.m. Friday. Instead, the closing arguments will begin at 9 a.m. Monday.
Pickard, Bates, Philbert and Suarez were indicted last year by a federal grand jury on St. Croix of 33 counts of intimidation, physical assault, harassment and arresting persons without just cause between Jan. 1, 1995, and Oct. 31, 1999.
Pickard and Bates are also accused of the May 10, 1999, rape of a nightclub dancer on Shoys Beach.
Much of the focus at the trial, which started July 5, has been on Pickard, who is alleged to have violated the civil rights of eight people over the course of four years. He took the stand on Wednesday and denied that he assaulted or intimidated any of his accusers, several of whom are admitted crack cocaine addicts.
As for the rape charges, both Pickard and Bates admitted to having had sex with the woman at the beach but claim that she instigated and agreed to the encounter.
Federal prosecutors called to the stand a couple who alleged that Pickard pulled a gun on them when they were visiting St. Croix in 1998. Rick and Susan Mattox testified that they had been stopped in the middle of a Christiansted street asking for directions when a black sports utility vehicle with tinted windows pulled behind them and the driver blasted its horn. As the Ohio couple circled through town, they said, the vehicle followed them, eventually pulling ahead of their car and cutting them off.
The couple testified that Pickard and another man, both wearing jeans and T-shirts, exited the SUV. Rick Mattox said Pickard pulled a gun, threatened his life and physically assaulted him. He and his wife both said the two men did not identify themselves as police officers until the altercation had ended.
On the stand earlier this week, Pickard said he had no recollection of the alleged incident and that he never pointed a weapon at Rick Mattox.
Finch dismissed a charge of conspiracy against the four defendants. Prosecutors argued that as members of "The Primos," a group headed by Pickard, the four conspired to violate the rights of citizens. Finch, however, said there was no evidence to support the prosecution’s claim.
Last August, a federal grand jury indicted Pickard and Bates on charges of rape, conspiracy, firearms possession, witness-tampering and civil rights violations by assault and intimidation.
A superseding indictment in February tacked on additional charges and also charged Suarez and Philbert with assault and witness intimidation.
