Chief Territorial Public Defender Harold Willocks, Gov. John deJongh Jr.’s nominee for the V.I. Superior Court judgeship left vacant by the death of Judge Francis d’Eramo earlier this year, sailed through the Senate Rules and Judiciary Committee Friday, garnering unanimous votes for a favorable recommendation.
Asked about topical legal issues from standards for giving bail, to youthful offenders and a court case about the constitution drafted this year by the 5th V.I. Constitutional Convention, Willocks largely steered away from overt statements of his own opinion, averring that his job as judge would be to apply the law as it is written.
Noting controversy over violent offenders released on bail by Judge Leon Kendall, Sen. Louis Patrick Hill and others asked Willocks what his approach would be.
Willocks said a recent V.I. Supreme Court decision in "People of the V.I. v. Jeffrey Browne" set clear policy, making such controversy less likely in the future.
"Before Browne there really were a lot of conflicting interpretations of the code," he said. "But now … there is a clear picture of how murder cases should be handled."
On the death penalty, Willocks gave no hint whether he favored it in principle, but said it might be unworkable in the Virgin Islands.
"Are we ready for capital punishment in the Virgin Islands?" asked Sen. Sammuel Sanes.
"No, we are not," Willocks replied, saying the safeguards, checks, extra appeals and the need to segregate capital prisoners in a separate area with heightened security all made capital punishment very expensive. The current status of the prison system would make a local death penalty law subject to challenge and likely to be overturned by higher courts too, he said. Ultimately, it is a policy decision for the Legislature to decide, he said.
"If the system decides that is the way it is going to go, then it will make adjustments, but I caution you the costs can be extremely serious," he said.
Willocks declined to answer a question from Hill concerning the 5th V.I. Constitutional Convention’s draft constitution’s provisions restricting the office of the governor to native Virgin Islanders, saying the document was the subject of pending litigation that could come before him should he be confirmed.
Sen. Usie Richards asked, "Should a jurisdiction like the Virgin Islands have elected judges?"
"I am against it," Willocks said. "I think it injects politics in an area where it does not need to be."
On sentencing guidelines, Willocks said he preferred moving away from strict guidelines, especially those that would give much lighter sentences for selling powder cocaine than smokeable crack cocaine, but the Legislature had the job of setting guidelines and as a judge he would implement whatever the law required, within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution.
Willocks, author of the seminal Virgin Islands history "The Umbilical Cord," has served as chief public defender in the Virgin Islands since 1992 and was a public defender in that office prior to that. He was born on St. Croix and graduated from St. Croix Central High. He went to Morgan State and received his law degree from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. After returning to the Virgin Islands he worked as an assistant attorney general for about a year, where he handled civil, criminal and juvenile cases, before joining the Office of the Public Defender.
Voting to forward Willock’s nomination with a favorable recommendation were Richards, Sanes, Sens. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Neville James, Patrick Sprauve, Michael Thurland and Celestino White. There were no dissenting votes and no members absent. Also present but not members of the committee were Hill, Sens. Nereida "Nellie" O’Reilly and Terrence "Positive" Nelson.
