Powell v. People

59 V.I. 444, 2013 WL 4034204, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 40
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedAugust 6, 2013
DocketS. Ct. Criminal No. 2012-0057
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 59 V.I. 444 (Powell v. People) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Powell v. People, 59 V.I. 444, 2013 WL 4034204, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 40 (virginislands 2013).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

(August 6, 2013)

Hodge, Chief Justice.

Ashana Powell appeals from the Superior Court’s Judgment and Commitment, entered on July 20, 2012, in which she was convicted of three counts of carrying or using a dangerous weapon in violation of title 14, section 2251(a)(2)(A) of the Virgin Islands Code.1 For the reasons discussed below, we will affirm the Judgment of the Superior Court, but will remand the matter for resentencing in compliance with title 14, section 104 of the Virgin Islands Code.

I. STATEMENT OF RELEVANT FACTS AND PROCEDURAL POSTURE

On the evening of March 1, 2010, Powell was playing the gaming machines at the Rock Bar located in Port of Sale Mall, on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, when Rebecca Seybold, Maria Cavalli (“Maria”), and Pauline Cavalli (“Pauline”) entered the bar. Upon arrival, Seybold began to curse at the woman seated next to Powell at the machines concerning a previous incident involving a dog, alleging that the woman was a bad dog owner. The woman left the area and, according to the testimony of several witnesses, Seybold, apparently belligerently drunk, began to curse at Powell about the dog. (J.A. 212-13.) Powell was heard asking Seybold to leave her alone and pushed Seybold when she would not go away. According to Maria, she and Pauline were outside the door of the bar at this time, and as Maria was walking inside to grab Seybold, she caught her “flying backwards,” although another witness indicated Powell did [449]*449not push Seybold very hard. (J.A. 116-17, 216.) Although Maria testified that she never struck Powell inside the Rock, nor did Seybold, several other witnesses indicated that a physical altercation ensued between the three women and Powell inside of the Rock, and that three men had to separate them. (J.A. 217.) Two witnesses noted that Maria reached over one of the men who attempted to restrain the fight and punched Powell in the face. (J.A. 219, 237.) Robert Finch, a security guard at the Rock that night, testified that as he got in the middle to break up the fight, the “white females” were swinging over his shoulder hitting Powell, and that one of them threw something at Powell’s head. (J.A. 279.) Once outside, Finch saw that Powell was bleeding from her head. (J.A. 279.) Another patron, Nioka Reed, indicated that she saw one of the three women throw a bottle at Powell, which hit her in the head. (J.A. 454.) A witness, Jack Ervin, and another security guard, Lloyd Hermon, also testified that Powell appeared to have been hit and had blood running down her face. (J.A. 255, 306.)

Once the women were separated, Finch escorted Powell outside the Rock, while Brad Robbins, another patron, and Ervin led the three women away. (J.A. 247-48, 280-81, 417.) According to Finch, although the women were being held back, they still attempted to “rush” Powell as she went to her car. (J.A. 281.) After leaving the Rock, the three women proceeded on foot through the First Bank drive-thru, then toward the parking lot near Mojo’s Restaurant (“Mojo’s”), and Powell followed in her vehicle. Specifically, there was testimony that Powell drove in the wrong direction through the First Bank drive-thru after the three women, and that the women were in the parking lot, approximately two car-lengths ahead of Powell, screaming and being held back.2 (J.A. 284-85.) At this point, Powell was on the phone with the police and was visibly upset. (Id.) Hermon, who went to talk to Powell in the First Bank area, testified that he called the police again because the women were yelling (from a distance) and they were “kind of like getting it to be — how you would say, to get the fight to start again.” (J.A. 312.) Around this time [450]*450Finch had also returned to defuse the situation, and testified that he advised Powell to let the police handle it. He left her standing near her vehicle talking to the police, and stated at trial that,

she had her senses about her because she was... calling the police. But at the same time they were still agitated____[S]he [still] seemed good enough and capable enough____they were still being agitators. They were yelling and screaming, but they were being held back or whatever, so as long as she stayed where she was ... it would be cool.

(J.A. 289-90.)

Similarly, another security guard, Adelbert Molyneaux, was also in the First Bank drive-thru area talking with Powell. He too testified to telling Powell that she had done the right thing and to let the police come do their job. (J.A. 164.) Molyneaux then indicated that a hostile lady and a male came towards them and that Powell had walked off. (J.A. 165.) He subsequently heard a trash can turning over and glass breaking, after which he observed Powell running toward Mojo’s. (J.A. 166.) Ervin also saw Powell stop at a trash can before proceeding to the area where the other women were located, and a Mojo’s bartender, Christopher Maheu, likewise indicated that he saw Powell walking with a broken Heineken bottle. (J.A. 253, 261.) When Molyneaux got to Mojo’s, he saw a female swing at Powell first; Powell swung back and hit the woman in her eye — afterwards, there was a glass bottle on the ground. (J.A. 167, 172.) Molyneaux’s testimony is corroborated by Todd Vansickle, a patron at Mojo’s who saw Maria approach Powell in the parking lot and push her. (J.A. 230.) Vansickle testified that Powell slapped Maria, that Maria responded by attempting to slap Powell, and that Maria then lunged at Powell. (Id.) The next thing he saw was Powell hitting Maria in the face with a broken bottle. (J.A 231.)

Maria testified that Powell approached them near Mojo’s and threatened, “[o]ne, [t]wo, [t]hree, you all dead,” while pointing at each woman. (J.A. 119.) Maria claimed that Powell started to go after Pauline, who ran, then Maria bent down to pick up some sunglasses, and Powell charged and hit her, presumably with the bottle. (J.A. 120-21.) Powell instead indicated that Pauline threw something sharp over Powell’s head and that she grabbed her and started to fight because she did not know what Maria was bending down to get and wanted to defend herself. (J.A. [451]*451324.) Powell hit Maria in her eye with the broken bottle. (J.A. 120.) Maria also sustained injuries on her arm, and had to have her eye removed. (J.A. 122.) Robbins was also injured as he attempted to separate the fight, receiving a large cut on his arm.3 (J.A. 425.)

Powell was acquitted of the three substantive counts of mayhem, first degree assault and third-degree assault but was convicted of three counts of carrying or using a dangerous weapon. Pursuant to a motion, the trial court subsequently acquitted Powell on all counts, finding that acquittal was mandatory due to the inconsistency of the verdicts. On appeal by the People to this Court, we reversed the Judgment and Acquittal and remanded the matter for sentencing. People v. Powell, 56 V.I. 630, 631-33 (V.I. 2012) (Powell I). Accordingly, Powell was sentenced pursuant to a July 20, 2012 Judgment and Commitment of the Superior Court. (J.A. 23-26.) Powell filed her timely Notice of Appeal on July 10, 2012.4

II. DISCUSSION

A. Jurisdiction and Standard of Review

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 V.I. 444, 2013 WL 4034204, 2013 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/powell-v-people-virginislands-2013.