St. Croix resident Sean Gerard, 32, was sentenced Wednesday to spend the rest of his natural life in prison for the premeditated murder of Alfred Hendricks, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Life in prison is the mandatory statutory penalty for first-degree murder.
While it will not affect his actual time in prison, Gerard also received a 15-year sentence for unauthorized possession of a firearm, and 15 years for the charges of felon in possession of a firearm and receiving a firearm while under indictment. Visiting District Court Judge Anne Thompson ordered the prison terms to run concurrently.
On April 15, 2010, a federal jury and judge convicted Gerard of U.S. Virgin Islands and federal charges after a three-day trial in district court on St. Croix. The federal jury convicted Gerard of first-degree murder and unauthorized possession of a firearm, and Thompson found Gerard guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm and receiving a firearm while under indictment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
On May 6, 2009, police officers responded to a report that shots were being discharged in the area of No.119 Estate Mon Bijou. When officers arrived at the scene, they observed an individual later identified as Alfred Hendricks lying in the middle of a dirt road east of the Mon Bijou address with no apparent vital signs.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, evidence at trial showed Gerard shot and killed Hendricks over a dispute concerning a bicycle. At the time of the shooting, Gerard was on house arrest on a pending Superior Court charge of first-degree assault.
