Felix v. Government of the Virgin Islands

47 V.I. 573, 2005 WL 3077599, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28695
CourtDistrict Court, Virgin Islands
DecidedNovember 3, 2005
DocketD.C. Crim. App. No. 2004/108
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 47 V.I. 573 (Felix v. Government of the Virgin Islands) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Felix v. Government of the Virgin Islands, 47 V.I. 573, 2005 WL 3077599, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28695 (vid 2005).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

(November 3,2005)

This matter is once again before this Court on appeal from the appellant’s second motion for new trial, this time based on newly [575]*575discovered evidence. That motion followed our earlier reversal of the appellant’s conviction and the Third Circuit’s vacatur of the same for further development of the facts below. The single issue we now face today is whether the trial court erred in finding that the Government’s failure to disclose the fact of a pending arrest warrant for a key prosecution witness and the victim in this case violated the appellant’s due process right to a fair trial.

For the reasons more fully stated below, we will affirm the trial court’s denial of the appellant’s motion for new trial based on newly discovered evidence.

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS & PROCEDURAL POSTURE

Several incidents are relevant to this appeal: the trial evidence and the appellant’s conviction; the motion for new trial and the arrest warrant for Rodriquez giving rise to the Brady challenge; and the resulting appeals. Accordingly, the facts are set out as to each below.

November 1999 Shooting

Bryan Felix (“Felix” or “appellant”) was convicted of murder in the first degree, attempted murder, and unauthorized possession of a firearm, in connection with the shooting death of Miguel Crispin (“Crispin”) and the infliction of two gunshot wounds to Leonardo Rodriquez (“Rodriquez”) in downtown Christiansted.

The events leading up to that shooting unfolded on November 6, 1999 when three Black Men, Felix, Leon Isaac (“Isaac”) and Kasim Williams (“Williams”), went to a food van on Church Street, Christiansted. They rode in a red Mitsubishi Mirage driven by Isaac. There, they encountered three Hispanic men in a white Mitsubishi: Rodriquez, Crispin, and Jose Mercado (“Mercado”). [Supplemental Appendix (“Supplemental App.”) at 84-87; 250-51],

Rodriquez described Isaac as “heavy-set.” [Id. at 87]. Police Detective Terrence Desormeaux said that, based on a police chart used to measure the men’s height, both Isaac and Williams were 6 feet, one inch tall, and Felix was the shorter of the three, at about 5’6” tall without his dreadlocks and 5’7.5” tall with his dreadlocks. [Id. at 225-34]. Gale Clark (“Clark”),the proprietor of the food van where the incident occurred, described the apparent shooter as “small-built” and short in comparison to her, wearing dreadlocks. [Id. At 77-83].

[576]*576Rodriquez and Isaac had a prior disagreement and, upon seeing each other, got into a fight. [Supplemental App. at 85-87, 96-97]. As the two fought, Mercado also got into a fight with one of the men from the red car, whom he described as tall and slim but could not identify at trial by name. [Supplemental App. at 87, 126]. He said' that man fought him with a 2x4 board.

As the four men fought, several shots were fired. Rodriquez testified he stopped fighting and pushed away from Isaac after he heard gunshots. It was then that he said he came face to face with Felix pointing a gun at him:

At the same time, me and the brother was still just fighting, grab, on; I didn’t loose he; he didn’t loose me. When I hear the shot fired, I push off, and I end up like in the middle of the road now. The middle of the road, like in between right deh in the middle. This man yah facing me, this man . yah facing me with the — sorry, with the gun, pointing straight at me and bus’ two of them after me. [sic], •

[Supplemental App. at 88]. Rodriquez said he was in close proximity to Felix when he was shot, estimated at trial at 15-20 feet. [Id. at 90]. After being shot, Rodriquez ran a short distance away to where he was later found laying on a gallery on nearby Company Street.

Rodriquez said he knew Felix for quite some time prior to the incident and had talked to him on previous occasions, but had no prior disagreement with him; Felix testified similarly that he had never had problems with Rodriquez. Though admitting he was not sure who fired the initial shots he heard before he was struck, Rodriquez unequivocally testified that Felix was the person who faced him and shot him twice. [Id. at 88-97]. Rodriquez identified Felix as the shooter just days after the shooting, on November 9, 1999, while he was hospitalized from his gunshot wounds. [Id. at 93-110],

Mercado testified that, at the time shots were fired, two officers had already parted the fight he was involved in and had subdued both him and his adversary on the ground. Within seconds of the first shots being fired, he saw Crispin running past him. [Id. at 127-28]. He said an officer then took him to where Crispin fell, dying, in the Post Office yard. [Id. at 128], Crispin later died of a gunshot wound to the back.

[577]*577Consistent with Mercado’s testimony, Narcotics Agent George Osborne, who was in the area conducting a separate investigation at the time the incident began, also testified he parted a fight involving two men, both of whom appeared Hispanic. One of the men was beating the other with a 2x4 board. Osborne said he had both men detained at the time the shots were fired and when Crispin ran by. [Id. at 66]. Osborne further testified that the man who was earlier being beaten with the board, apparently Mercado, went to Crispin’s aid after he fell from gunshot wounds. [Id. at 65-68]. At trial, Osborne could not identify the two men he parted and then detained by name but noted, “If I see them, I may know them.” [Id.]. He described them as “two-midweight individuals, not too short or too tall, and Hispanic-type looking.” [Id. at 66].

Felix also testified at trial that he knew Rodriquez, and he said the incident leading to the shooting stemmed from a disagreement between Rodriquez and Isaac. [Id. at 257-58]. He similarly testified that Rodriquez and Isaac were fighting and said he was just “telling them to hold it down.” [Id. at 259]. Felix said he just stayed in the area for awhile, and was at the side of the food van when he heard the gunshots. [Id.]. Following the shooting, he admitted reentering the red Mirage with his two friends and attempting to flee the area. Felix did not testify to fighting with anyone at the scene. He denied being the shooter, however.

Clark, the proprietor of the food van, said she also fled the area, anticipating a shooting, after she heard one of the Black men whom she described as “small-built” and short in relation to her declare, “I’m goin’ take care of this,” while heading in the direction of a car. [Id. at 77]. Clark immediately fled up King Street and moments later heard gunshots.

At trial, Rodriquez was the only person who could testify he saw Felix fire the gun.

A police officer arriving on the scene following the incident encountered Felix, Isaac and Williams as they attempted to drive away in the red car, reversing down Church Street. [Id. at 114; see also 119-20]. The three men initially ignored the officer’s command to stop, but complied after the officer “cranked” his shotgun and commanded them at gunpoint to do so. [Id. at 114].

Police determined five shots had been fired: two struck Rodriquez, one struck Crispin, and police determined one was fired into the white [578]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Plaskett
50 V.I. 548 (Virgin Islands, 2008)
People v. Baxter
49 V.I. 384 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2008)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 V.I. 573, 2005 WL 3077599, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/felix-v-government-of-the-virgin-islands-vid-2005.