The swearing-in of four new magistrates — two on St. Croix Monday and two on St. Thomas Tuesday — was obviously a triumphant time for the attorneys involved, but it also seemed to be a satisfying conclusion for island officials.
"Every once and a while, I attend and participate in a function that makes me really proud to be in the Senate," Senate President Louis P. Hill said Tuesday at the St. Thomas swearing-in at the Alexander Farrelly Justice Center.
"Without the Legislature and its actions, we would not be having this ceremony this morning."
Jessica Gallivan, Miguel Camacho, Kathleen Mackey and Alan D. Smith will now head up the first Magistrate Division of the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands. Gallivan and Camacho will serve on St. Croix, with Mackey and Smith on St. Thomas. The addition of the Magistrate Division completes the development of the Superior Court as a full service court.
Officials at the St. Thomas ceremony said they hoped the new division would help speed up a bogged-down and overworked legal system. The magistrates will handle small claims, traffic, landlord-tenant, advice of rights and arraignments, domestic violence and marriage procedures as well as certain misdemeanor criminal bench trials.
"The residents of the Virgin Islands will have a speedy trial and the opportunity to be heard much more quickly than in the past," Hill said.
"There is no place else under the American flag where I could have actively participated in the evolution of the legal system," said newly appointed Magistrate Alan D. Smith. He said he was proud to be part of "an active, as opposed to an activist court. The people’s court."
"I pledge to you, the court and the people of the territories…to apply the law in a fair and just manner," Mackey said shortly after being sworn in Tuesday. "The oath that I have just taken is my bond."
The magistrates will undergo a two-day orientation program and begin work in their new positions July 5.
