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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesGRAND JURIES NEEDED, SEN. DAVID SAYS

GRAND JURIES NEEDED, SEN. DAVID SAYS

A bill to create a grand jury system for the Territorial Court has been drafted and will be presented to the Legislature soon after budget hearings are completed this fall, according to its sponsor, Sen. Roosevelt David.
Putting the decision of whether to prosecute individuals charged with crimes into the hands of a grand jury should go a long way toward quelling anger and frustration felt by residents now when the V.I. Attorney General's Office drops charges against some individuals rather than taking them to court, David said.
"There is too much political influence in the decision-making process of who should be prosecuted and who shouldn't," David said. "You have people out there who have done heinous crimes and for some reason they've been able to elude the law because of connections."
Another condition that has sometimes made attorneys general hesitant to prosecute is the Virgin Islands' close-knit community, David said.
"No one wants to touch a relative," he said.
A grand jury is a panel of citizens that hears the prosecution's evidence in criminal cases and then decides whether it is sufficient for a case to go to trial. If its collective decision is "yes," the grand jury indicts the defendant and the case proceeds to trial.
The only grand jury system operating in the territory now is for cases brought in federal court.
With the decision on whether to prosecute being made by "people from all walks of life and with different ideologies," David said, there will be "more objectivity and the decision would be non-partisan."
V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron has advocated the creation of a grand jury.
"In the absence of a grand jury, it is the attorney general for the most part who holds a lot of authority and has the power to affect the lives of those who are accused of crimes," he said last month at his swearing-in ceremony.
Sens. Anne Golden and Norman Jn.-Baptiste are among those who have previously supported a local grand jury system.
"A grand jury is powerful," Golden said in April. "It's going to build a system of accountability and restore public trust."
Sens. Gregory Bennerson and Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg have said they favor the concept of a grand jury but they question whether the territory has the funds to implement such a system.
A grand jury system is "the ideal choice," Bennerson said in April, "but I'm not convinced the economy can support this."
Julio Brady, who as attorney general in the Schneider administration came under fire for some of his decisions not to prosecute, has also advocated for creation of a grand jury system.
David said a grand jury should produce an increase in prosecutions, although there is no guarantee that this would be the case, and crime will be deterred. "It will have an impact on crime because people will face justice," he said.

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