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V.I. Has 5 Days To Keep Murder Suspect In Jail

Feb. 14, 2009 — Bail has not yet been set for 30-year-old Neville Potter Jr., but government attorneys have only five days to argue why the man charged with gunning down two people last Sunday in Estate Mandahl should continue to sit in jail pending trial, V.I. Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall ruled Saturday.
Potter, charged with first- and second-degree murder for the deaths of 52-year-old John "Jack" Diehl and 24-year-old Marvis Chamaro, was arrested Friday afternoon on a warrant issued by Superior Court Judge James S. Carroll III. (See "Charges Filed In Murders of Diehl, Chamaro.")
During an advice of rights hearing Saturday, Kendall said Carroll's decision to remand Potter should not have been made without a proper detention hearing. The government has to show the proof in the case is "evident" and the presumption is "great" enough to keep Potter in jail, Kendall said.
"The government has to prove that, and the defendant should be given a chance to respond to that," he added. "A judge is not supposed to just make that determination — so for Judge Carroll to detain him without a hearing and a response, to me is insufficient."
Since Carroll had already found probable cause to uphold the charges against Potter, Kendall did not take up the defense's recommendation to release Potter on an unsecured bond pending trial. Instead, he gave government attorney Brenda Scales five days to file a motion for a detention hearing.
"If I'm in error in my interpretation, then you can enlighten me on that at the same time," the judge added.
Potter, wearing a red Bureau of Corrections jumpsuit, showed no visible signs of emotion when Kendall advised him of his rights during Saturday's hearing, and kept his voice clear and steady when responding to the judge's questions. He turned around twice to check on family members in the courtroom and stayed quiet when he was led out by corrections officers.
Scales said during the hearing that an affidavit filed by Police Detective Jason Marsh would show that the evidence against Potter is great.
Six witnesses interviewed after Sunday's double homicide had the same description of the shooter — and two of the witnesses singled Potter's picture out of a photo array, according to the affidavit. The first witness was traveling in a jeep with Chamaro along the Mandahl Bay Road on the day of his murder.
Chamaro stopped the car near the former Inn at Mandahl site, when a blue Toyota Corolla came toward them, and stopped about 25 feet away, according to the witness. The driver of the car opened his door and told Chamaro and his companion to "come out the car," and started firing his gun when the two did not move, the affidavit said.
In an attempt to get away, Chamaro and the witness ran through the nearby bushes.
"The witness said he/she ran toward a yellow house and stayed in the area until she saw a white car pull up," according to the affidavit. "The witness went up to the driver and asked him to call the police."
Another witness was reading at his house in Mandahl when he heard gunshots. Looking out the front door, he saw the shooter "climbing the hillside," the affidavit said. The witness ran to his father, who was asking for help. When he went to see what was wrong, the witness said he noticed a male — later identified as Diehl — lying in the concrete driveway. The witness said he and his father carried Diehl to Schneider Regional Medical Center, where Diehl died shortly after.
Four other witness in the affidavit said they either saw Diehl running or Diehl falling after being shot, and gave a description of the shooter.
Police heading to the area were told by the dispatcher to be on the lookout for a blue Toyota Corolla "speeding away from the scene," Marsh wrote in his report.
A medical examiner's report said Diehl's cause of death was a shot to the head, while Chamaro died of multiple gunshot wounds.
Potter is set to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Feb. 26.
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