A federal magistrate judge has set a trial date for a man who was arrested for unlawful sexual contact in 2017 and whose case has languished in the courts for nearly six and a half years.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Emile Henderson III set the jury selection and jury trial of James Lealand Johnston to begin June 2 following an appearance by Johnston’s attorney, Frederic Chardon Dubos, Wednesday morning on St. Croix. A trial readiness hearing was set for April 11.
According to documents filed in U.S. District Court, the V.I. Police Department began investigating James Lealand Johnston in March 2017 after interviewing a then 10-year-old minor, who said that Johnston, a private music teacher, had molested him and showed him pornographic material. Police and U.S. Homeland Security special agents executed arrest and search warrants for Johnston and his residence, respectively, the following May. Their search yielded an orange flash drive with approximately 70 images of child pornography that matched a description given to them by the minor.
He was released from local custody on bail. In August 2018, he was arrested by federal agents and charged with possession of child pornography. The case has been wending its way through the court system ever since, experiencing multiple delays and changes in Johnston’s legal representation.
One of Johnston’s former attorneys, Jennie Espada, filed a motion requesting a psychological evaluation last February, writing that they had observed “certain manifestations by Mr. Lealand which have raised red flags in terms of his intellect, his capability of discerning right from wrong, and other issues which are crucial for giving adequate legal advice that fulfills our duties under the 6th Amendment of the Constitution.”
The motion was granted in March, and the court later received a notice confirming that Johnston underwent an evaluation by a forensic psychologist in August.
The next development came in October when Espada asked to be removed as Johnston’s attorney. According to Espada’s motion to withdraw, Johnston wrote an email to his attorneys “which created an unsurmountable [sic] breach of trust.”
“The situation is tense and has created an inevitable conflict,” she wrote. “We cannot continue representing him according to ethical standards.”
Dubos was appointed to represent Johnston, and during a calendar call Wednesday he acknowledged — to Henderson’s apparent consternation — that he hadn’t discussed a plea agreement with his client several months after prosecutors put it on the table. Later, he indicated that Johnston had rejected the agreement.
“Attorney Dubos, he could not reject the plea because you didn’t talk to him about it,” Henderson admonished before cautioning Dubos that if he said anything else, he could be ordered to show cause as to why he hadn’t yet taken the agreement to his client.
