Richardson Dangleben Jr., charged with murder in the July 2023 shooting death of V.I. Police Detective Delberth Phipps Jr., has a December trial date after years of delay as the prosecution and defense argued over whether he would face the death penalty if convicted of the crime.
In a precedential opinion last month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a V.I. District Court order striking the death penalty in the case, clearing the way for the trial to proceed. Chief Judge Robert Molloy has now set the trial management order, with jury selection scheduled for Dec. 14 on St. Thomas.
A grand jury returned a 13-count indictment against Dangleben, 54, in October 2023, charging him with first-degree murder and other violations of federal and territorial laws in connection with the shooting death of Phipps, 42, on July 4 that year, and the assault of another officer who also responded to the 911 call concerning a man with a gun in Hospital Ground. Dangleben has pleaded not guilty.
While the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in February 2024 that it would not seek the death penalty, it reversed course in May 2025 after an executive order from President Donald Trump lifting former President Joe Biden’s moratorium on federal executions. Dangleben’s attorney, federal Public Defender Matthew Campbell, filed a motion opposing the about-face and after briefing by both sides, Molloy struck the government’s notice from the record last August, ruling that the case would proceed as a noncapital case.
With the trial date just three weeks away, the DOJ appealed Molloy’s order to the Third Circuit the same day he issued his opinion, essentially halting further District Court proceedings. Oral argument was held Dec. 9 before a three-judge panel.
In its opinion June 2, the appellate court largely agreed with Molloy on the death penalty ruling but reversed and remanded his order dismissing Counts 2 and 3 of the superseding indictment — discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence — and Count 1, use of a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in death, with instructions to reinstate those charges.
Campbell had argued that they failed to state an offense under the United States Code because the predicate offenses upon which the charges are based are local territorial offenses.
However, the appellate court found that such offenses can qualify as predicate “crimes of violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A), which punishes firearm use during violent crimes prosecuted in a “court of the United States,” because the District Court of the Virgin Islands is legally considered such.
Dangleben remains in pretrial detention at the Guaynabo Metropolitan Detention Center in Puerto Rico. He also faces first-degree murder charges in V.I. Superior Court in the shooting death of Keith Jennings on Feb. 24, 2023, also in the Hospital Ground area, for which he was free on bail when Phipps was shot and killed. That case was set for trial last October but proceedings were canceled due to the ongoing federal case.
