Jamal Stevens, 18, has been transferred from the Youth Rehabilitation Center on St. Croix to the adult corrections facility on St. Thomas where he is being held on $500,000 bond in connection with the murder of Rahim Donastorg.
Stevens has been charged with first-degree murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime in connection with the shooting death of Donastorg in December 1999. Donastorg died in a Puerto Rico hospital on Dec. 30, three days after the shooting.
Deputy Police Chief Theodore Carty said Wednesday that Stevens' case has been transferred from Family Court to the Adult Division because he recently turned 18. He will be tried as an adult.
Stevens was first arrested in May along with another minor, five months after allegedly shooting Donastorg, then 20. At the time of his initial arrest, Stevens and the second person arrested were juveniles and thus were not named.
Carty could not say if the other minor charged in the case had turned 18 yet.
At the time of his death Donastorg was employed by the V.I. Water and Power Authority. The shooting was reportedly the result of an ongoing feud over an automobile, according to sources at the time of the incident.
A conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole. Conviction of illegal weapons possession carries a five-year minimum mandatory sentence.
Stevens has been held at the youth center on St. Croix since his arrest in May.
