Government of the Virgin Islands v. Kitson Jarvis

653 F.2d 762, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11817
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 1981
Docket80-2647
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 653 F.2d 762 (Government of the Virgin Islands v. Kitson Jarvis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Government of the Virgin Islands v. Kitson Jarvis, 653 F.2d 762, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11817 (3d Cir. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

GARTH, Circuit Judge:

The appellant, Kitson Jarvis and his co-defendant Darryl Reviere were charged with burglary, robbery, assault, unauthorized use of a vehicle, and with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence. Jarvis was tried separately because Reviere was not arrested until two days before Jarvis’s trial was scheduled to commence. All of the charges related to an early morning supermarket robbery allegedly committed by both defendants on April 5, 1980.

In September 1980, Jarvis was tried before a jury which returned verdicts of guilty on each of the fourteen counts of the Information. On October 8, 1980, Jarvis was sentenced to a total term of imprisonment of 2072 years based on consecutive sentences for five of the fourteen counts. The sentences on the other nine counts were concurrent to the various consecutive sentences. On Count IV, Jarvis was sentenced to five years imprisonment to be served concurrently with his five year sentence for Count II, which in turn was to run consecutively with his five year sentence on Count I.

On appeal, Jarvis raised three claims of error. First, he claimed that his arrest was not supported by probable cause. Second, that the verdict was not supported by sufficient evidence. Third, he maintained that there was not sufficient evidence to support his conviction for robbery as charged in Count IV of the Information.

We find no merit in Jarvis’s first two contentions, but vacate his robbery conviction based on Count IV of the Information and remand the case for resentencing on Count IV.

I.

Kitson Jarvis was convicted after a jury trial in the district court of fourteen counts arising out of an early morning supermarket robbery on April 5, 1980. On that day, at about 6:00 a. m., two masked men entered the Pueblo Supermarket located at the Villa La Reine Shopping Center in St. Croix. After entering, the men bound the two night janitors at gun point and then awaited the arrival of the store manager. The manager and two employees arrived at about 6:50 a. m. and were promptly forced into the manager’s office. Two employees who arrived later were also held in the manager’s office. The intruders struck the manager and threatened to kill the four employees if the manager did not promptly open the store safe;

The two men removed about $13,000 from the safe after it was opened and also took money and personal belongings from the store employees. One of the employees, Carlos Encarnación, owned a red Plymouth Duster, which was parked in the supermarket parking lot, out of sight of the store employees. The intruders forced Encarnación to give them the keys to the car and they then made their escape in Encarnacion’s car.

About a half hour later, the car collided with a tree, 272 miles from the Peublo Market. Two individuals were seen leaving the *764 car. While investigating the accident, a police officer who did not know of the supermarket hold-up detained two men who were walking near the accident scene. He recognized Darryl Reviere from a previous encounter. Jarvis later admitted that he, Jarvis, was the person accompanying Reviere during this encounter with the officer who was investigating the accident.

When a second police car arrived Jarvis and Reviere fled into the bush. One officer testified that after they were told to halt and a warning shot was fired, Reviere turned and fired on the pursuing policemen. Jarvis’s fingerprints were found in Encarnacion’s stolen car.

II.

We find no merit in the first two contentions made by Jarvis on this appeal. As previously stated, Jarvis claims that he was arrested without probable cause. Our examination of the record reveals the contrary. The district court correctly ruled that Jarvis’s warrantless arrest was supported by probable cause.

The district court recounted the evidence surrounding Jarvis’s arrest and specifically found that the attendant circumstances created a reasonable inference that Jarvis was involved in the crimes with which he was later charged. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132,162, 45 S.Ct. 280, 288, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925). As a result of a suppression hearing (Tr. 76-86) the district court found that it was undisputed that: two men were involved in the supermarket robbery; these men escaped in Encarnacion’s car; within 30 minutes the car was found wrecked several miles from the scene; Jarvis was found by Officer McGras near the accident scene acting in a suspicious manner; shots were fired in a chase following the arrival of Officer Peterson. Given these circumstances, the court found Officer Perez had probable cause to arrest Jarvis. We have also reviewed the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing and these findings are not clearly erroneous. Government of the Virgin Islands v. Gereau, 502 F.2d 914, 922 (3d Cir. 1974).

The record also reveals that with the exception of Count IV which we discuss infra, the evidence presented was ample to support the jury’s verdict under the standard of Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942) which requires only that there be sufficient direct or circumstantial evidence to support the verdict viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government.

III.

Jarvis’s last contention is, however, well founded. The robbery statute which provides the basis for the charge against Jarvis reads as follows:

Robbery is the unlawful taking of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence and against his will, by means of force or fear.

14 V.I.C. § 1861 (emphasis supplied).

A person is guilty of robbery in the first degree when, in the course of the commission of the crime or of immediate flight therefrom, he or another perpetrator of the crime:
(2) Displays, uses or threatens the use of a dangerous weapon....

14 V.I.C. § 1862(2).

If Count IV of the Information which was returned against Jarvis had been drawn in the terms of 14 V.I.C. §§ 1861 and 1862, Jarvis’s argument would be far less compelling. 1 However, as we discuss, infra, the Information as drawn is far narrower than the statutory proscriptions.

It was uncontroverted that one of the two masked men had taken the keys to Encarnacion’s car from Encarnacion’s person and that the keys were used in stealing the car with its contents, including Encar *765 nacion’s money. However, we need not reach the issue of whether Jarvis or Reviere “robbed” Encarnación of his car and its contents because the Information was not drawn in those terms.

Count IV of the Information charged that Jarvis had:

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Related

Smith v. Government of the Virgin Islands
50 V.I. 411 (Virgin Islands, 2008)
Government of Virgin Islands v. Kenneth Brown
685 F.2d 834 (Third Circuit, 1982)
Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks
436 U.S. 149 (Supreme Court, 1978)

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653 F.2d 762, 1981 U.S. App. LEXIS 11817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/government-of-the-virgin-islands-v-kitson-jarvis-ca3-1981.