April 2, 2007 — The case against brothers Akil and Jahmal Hart, charged with gunning down two New York tourists in June 2005, has been dismissed because of a lack of sufficient evidence, Attorney General Vincent Frazer said Monday.
Assistant Attorney General Lofton P. Holder, representing the government, filed the motion to dismiss in late March, according to court documents. V.I. Superior Court Judge Edgar Ross granted the motion March 30.
The matter has been dismissed without prejudice, meaning that the government can present its case again at a later date. The case still has "high-priority status" within the U.S. Department of Justice and the agency will continue to investigate it, Frazer said during a brief telephone interview Monday.
"After reviewing the evidence, legitimate questions have been raised as to the readiness of this matter for trial," he said. "And since Judge Ross has continued to press us about what we're going to do, we thought it would be best to pull back and continue to investigate. But we still do have every intention of pursuing the matter."
Several concerns have been raised about the case since the Harts were arrested in July 2005 and charged with the murders of New York residents Tristan A. Charlier and Leon H. Roberts. Recently those concerns have centered on claims made by Goshnell "Foma" Walters, the government's key witness.
In a statement made in January, Walters recanted his original account of the murders, which placed the Harts at the scene of the crime. At a hearing in January, attorney Douglas Dick asked Ross to extend the initial Jan. 16 trial date to give the government more time to investigate Walters' claims. (See "Defendants in New York Tourists Murder Case Released on Bail.")
The trial was pushed back to April 2, then Ross issued his order of dismissal.
Determining the validity of Walters' claims is a crucial step in the trial process, Frazer said. "It's one of the reasons we had to take another look at the case," he said. "The contradictions have created problems, and we want to preserve the integrity of the case as much as possible."
After interviewing Walters and looking through the case file, Holder determined that the government could not prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt at present, he said in the motion to dismiss.
The Harts are currently out on bail, which Ross granted at the January hearing.
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