Sept. 22, 2001 – Devin Hodge, 21, who pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in May to first-degree murder in the May 1998 death of Emerald Lady jewelry story owner Larry Davis, entered another guilty plea Friday in Territorial Court, to second-degree murder in the October 1998 shooting death of Paradise Bar owner Ainsley James.
Hodge was originally charged with first-degree murder in the James case, but the charge was reduced in a plea bargain that included his agreeing to testify against accomplices Delano Clark and Jakeem Elmes, according to The V.I. Daily News.
Hodge could serve life imprisonment for second-degree murder in the James case, according to published reports. He has not yet been sentenced in the high-profile Emerald Lady case, in which Davis was fatally shot during an armed robbery. Hodge and another defendant, his brother, could face the death sentence in that case.
According to authorities, James was fatally shot on Oct. 12, 1998, in his bar in Rothschild Francis "Market" Square after he opened fire on Hodge, Clark and Elmes, who were attempting to rob him.
Clark and Elmes, who both were minors at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and second-degree murder, respectively. Clark was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Elmes, to eight years for their parts in James's death.
A sentencing date for Hodge in the James case has been set for Nov. 28 or 29 in Territorial Court by Judge Ishmael Meyers.
