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Charlotte Amalie
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HomeNewsArchivesFederal Judges Highly Critical of V.I. Trial Court Ruling

Federal Judges Highly Critical of V.I. Trial Court Ruling

Sept. 26, 2008 — Federal Judge Curtis V. Gómez and two colleagues recently handed down a decision sharply critical of an incident that took place three years ago in a St. Thomas courtroom.
Gómez was sitting with his U.S. district court colleague Raymond Finch and, by designation, Judge Julio Brady of the Superior Court. The decision by the Appellate Division of the U.S. District Court was unanimous.
The judges were critical of just about everyone involved in the case: the presiding judge (Audrey Thomas), the prosecuting attorneys and, to a lesser extent, the defense attorney.
The case involved Deborah Lee Castillo, who had played a minor role in an alleged embezzlement. A plea deal had been worked out for her, and she was present in the courtroom on Sept. 7, 2005, when the proposed arrangement came before the judge.
The judge noticed that the prosecutor assigned to the case was not present in the courtroom, and then said, according to court records, "I guess they're no longer interested, so I'll dismiss this case … with prejudice."
A dismissal with prejudice means that the case is over and cannot be revived by the losing party.
The appeals court judges, while granting a judge's power to control her own courtroom, ruled that her decision to dismiss with prejudice was too extreme, when she could have simply postponed it, or dismissed it without prejudice.
The judges said that the mistake in attorney scheduling was regrettable and negligent, but did not arise out of any bad faith on the part of the Office of the Attorney General. There simply had been a misunderstanding among the prosecutors.
The judges' ire, however, was expressed most strongly against an unnamed colleague of the missing prosecutor, who sat in the courtroom and did not volunteer to fill the shoes of the absent lawyer.
The judges said, "… another prosecutor was present, but indicated that he had not been assigned to Castillo's case. For another assistant attorney general present at the hearing to sit back and watch as the judge dismissed the matter with prejudice was unprofessional and borderline incompetent. The government has offered no explanation, nor can the court conceive of any reason, for the failure of the prosecutor who was present at the hearing to volunteer to stand in for his absent colleague. The behavior of the government in this matter was inexcusable."
The judges also noted that the decision by the judge to dismiss had not followed any effort on the part of the defense attorney to seek that decision.
The judges reversed the Superior Court ruling to dismiss the case, and ordered the matter reopened by that court.
The court document indicates that Castillo's mother, Violet Armour, had purportedly forged the signature of John Strain, owner of ABC Sales and Services, on 35 checks totaling $131,297. Of these, $5,500 were checks made out to Castillo directly, or to her and her mother.
The court that heard Castillo's case, at the time, was the Territorial Court of the Virgin Islands. It has since been renamed the V.I. Superior Court. The attorney general at the time of the incident has since left office.
The court document did not shed any light on why the decision on this matter was announced on Aug. 15, 2008, some three years after the courtroom action in question.
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