The Virgin Islands Supreme Court on Friday overturned the conviction of Rodney E. Miller Sr., the former Schneider Regional Medical Center chief executive, on a fraud conviction arising from his failure to disclose his bad conduct discharge from the Navy on his job application.
This decision has no bearing on the case against Miller and three other former SRMC officials, faced with numerous charges ranging from embezzlement to perjury.
An 11-page opinion written by Justice Maria Cabret found that the three-year statute of limitations had already expired before Miller was taken to court in 2008, charged with making a fraudulent statement on his employment application. Miller had signed the employment application in May 2002.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Miller’s appeal of his conviction was based on that fact alone. The opinion did not address any other charges pending against Miller.
The Supreme Court concentrated on whether Miller’s prosecution for making a false or fraudulent statement or misrepresentation constitutes a prosecution for the falsification of public records.
The opinion stated that the V.I. Code under which Miller was charged with making a false statement to the government is subject to the three-year statute of limitations.
There is no statute of limitations for the crime of falsifying public records. The V.I. Code delineates the falsification of public records as a "distinct crime," however that is not the one with which Miller was charged.
The Superior Court should have based its decision concerning the applicable statue of limitations on the "plain language" of the section of the code under which Miller was charged.
"Whether or not Miller’s employment application ultimately became part of the public record is immaterial to the crime with which he has been charged," the opinion stated.
Miller’s attorney, William Glore of Dudley, Clark and Chan, said Saturday, "We are elated that the Supreme Court say its way clear in an unanimous opinion. We think we are on extremely strong footing; it’s a very tight opinion."
Arguing that the statute of limitations had already expired, Miller had asked the Superior Court before the trial, to dismiss the charge. However, the motion was denied by Judge Leon Kendall. Glore said Saturday that the motion was rolled into another motion for a bill of particulars, also denied at the time.
Meantime, Miller faces up to 12 years imprisonment in a separate case heard in March this year charging that Miller, through his attorney, attempted to get false evidence — an allegedly fake military identification card — admitted during the February 2009 trial. The case is pending.
About that case, Glore speculated, "You could take the position, inasmuch as the Supreme Court has overturned the other decision, that the trial, itself, was a nullity, as though the evidence was never offered."
V.I. Assistant Attorney General Denise George-Counts was not available for comment Saturday.
The case against Miller and three other former hospital officials is tentatively scheduled to be heard in January before Superior Court Judge Michael Dunston, Glore said.
