Three judges on the Appellate Division of the District Court have ruled that Territorial Court Judge Ive Swan abused his discretion when he sentenced a first-time, nonviolent offender to 23 years in jail for buying a Rolex watch and jewelry with phony credit cards.
The panel threw out Charles Walker's convictions on charges of credit card fraud and possession of stolen property and ordered him released from prison, according to a report in the V.I. Daily News.
The appellate panel — composed of District Court Judges Raymond Finch and Thomas Moore and Territorial Court Judge Alphonso Andrews Jr. — ruled in its Dec. 27 opinion that Swan had erred on the side of prosecutors and deprived Walker of his constitutional right to a jury trial when Swan encouraged him to accept a plea agreement, indicating that if Walker was convicted at trial, the judge would give him the maximum sentence.
The judges also ruled that Walker had been denied his right to a reasonable bail; after his arrest, Walker was held in jail on $400,000 bail.
The panel also said that Swan committed errors of law during the course of the trial.
