Stevens v. People

55 V.I. 550, 2011 WL 3490547, 2011 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 16
CourtSupreme Court of The Virgin Islands
DecidedJune 22, 2011
DocketS. Ct. Crim. No. 2010-0001
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 55 V.I. 550 (Stevens 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
Stevens v. People, 55 V.I. 550, 2011 WL 3490547, 2011 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 16 (virginislands 2011).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

(June 22, 2011)

Cabret, J.

Jahlil Ward was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Cruz Bay, St. John. The People charged Denzil Stevens with the shooting and following trial, a jury found Stevens guilty. Stevens appealed the verdict, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence and the Superior Court’s denial of a motion for a new trial. Stevens’ conviction was affirmed on appeal, with the exception of his conviction for unauthorized possession of ammunition. Stevens v. People, 52 V.I. 294 (V.I. 2009). Stevens later filed a post-sentencing motion for a new trial. In this motion, Stevens [552]*552alleged that exculpatory evidence was not disclosed by the prosecution, entitling him to a new trial. The Superior Court denied the motion, and Stevens filed this appeal. Stevens now argues that the Superior Court failed to apply the standard set out in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963) for non-disclosed evidence and failed to fully consider Stevens’ arguments regarding the non-disclosed evidence. We hold that because the evidence identified by Stevens lacks materiality and was not suppressed, the Superior Court did not abuse its discretion by denying the motion for new trial.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In the early evening of April 7, 2006, Ward shot a man named Darcy Thomas. Later that same evening, Ward was shot. The latter shooting occurred at approximately 11:30 p.m. while Ward stood outside a Cruz Bay bar, talking on his cell phone. Ward saw a blue Chevrolet van stop on the street in front of him. A sliding door on the driver’s side opened, and Stevens appeared in the doorway, holding a shotgun. The two men spoke briefly, Ward turned, then began to walk away. Stevens shot Ward in the back then left the scene in the van.

After being shot, Ward went to the hospital. While still in the hospital, Ward gave a statement to police investigators in which he identified Stevens as the man who shot him. He also identified two other passengers in the van. Ward knew the driver of the van as “Raphel,” later identified as Ralph Titre, and stated that the van belonged to Titre’s mother. At trial, Ward testified that Titre and the front seat passenger, a man he knew as “Mickeal,” later identified as Mekel Blash, were his cousins. Ward also stated that he was, prior to the shooting, friends with Stevens, Titre, and Blash. As a result of the evidence uncovered during the investigation, police arrested Stevens and charged him with nine offenses.1

[553]*553At trial, Ward testified that Stevens shot him. Ward explained that because Stevens and Thomas were friends, he believed Stevens was retaliating for the earlier shooting of Thomas. Ward’s testimony matched his prior statement to police: the blue van stopped in front of him, Stevens appeared with a shotgun in the doorway, they spoke, and Stevens shot Ward as he was walking away. Titre and Blash both testified at trial, as well. Blash admitted that he was in the van when the shooting took place and that a passenger in the van was the shooter, but denied that he knew the identity of his fellow passenger that fired the shots. Titre’s testimony was riddled with contradictions: denying that he drove a van on the night of the shooting, then later admitting to driving his mother’s van; denying that he was in Cruz Bay on the night of the shooting, then later admitting that he heard the gunshots while in Cruz Bay; and denying that he knew Stevens, then later admitting that Stevens was in the van he was driving on the night of the shooting. Both Titre and Blash gave statements to the police during the course of the investigation. These statements implicated Stevens, however, at trial Titre and Blash denied providing many of the responses attributed to them in the statements, and expressed, during their testimony, lapses in memory and doubts about the validity of the statements.

At the close of the prosecution, Stevens moved for a judgment of acquittal, which was granted on Counts'V, VI, VII, and VIII, but denied for the remaining charges. Stevens based his defense on an alibi. Three witnesses testified that Stevens was at his friend Saihinly Tongue’s house in Coral Bay during the day and night of the shooting. One witness, Muller, admitted that he left the house at least half an hour before the time of the shooting, while Tongue stated that he and Stevens stayed at home and fell asleep around 10:30 in the evening. The third witness, Clendinen, testified that he was in Cruz Bay within twenty feet of Ward when Ward was shot and that following the shooting, he drove to Tongue’s house, where he woke Stevens to tell him about the shooting.

Stevens testified in his own defense, consistent with his alibi witnesses. Stevens stated that he was at Tongue’s house the entire day, that he went to sleep around 11:00 p.m., and that he was awakened when Clendinen arrived at the house. Stevens denied knowing Blash or Titre before he was arrested. Ward testified in rebuttal that Stevens, Blash, and Titre were all friends.

[554]*554The matter was submitted to the jury, which ultimately found Stevens guilty on all five remaining counts.2 Stevens again moved for judgment of acquittal and a new trial because the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence. Both motions were denied, and Stevens appealed the denial. On appeal, this Court partially affirmed the Superior Court’s decision, but reversed Stevens’ conviction for Count IX, Unauthorized Possession of Ammunition.3

Stevens subsequently filed a post conviction motion for a new trial, which is the subject this appeal. In this motion, Stevens asserted that newly discovered evidence was previously suppressed by the prosecution in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963), entitling him to a new trial. The evidence Stevens contended was newly discovered and suppressed includes police reports and an affidavit relating to a homicide investigation, all of which linked Ward to the June 19, 2007 killing of James Patrick Cockayne. Stevens claimed that had these investigative materials from the Cockayne murder been available to him, he would have been able to impeach Ward’s credibility as a witness at his trial.

Additionally, Stevens cited the fact that the Bureau of Corrections released Ward prematurely while he was serving a fifteen month sentence following a conviction for the unauthorized possession of a firearm. This early release violated the terms of Ward’s judgment of conviction and sentence. Stevens claimed that the early release was a quid pro quo for Ward’s testimony at Stevens’ trial. Had this alleged arrangement been disclosed prior to trial, Stevens argued, Ward’s credibility would have been further questioned at trial.

Both the investigative materials from the Cockayne homicide and the alleged agreement between Ward and the government came to Stevens’ attention following Ward’s trial for the Cockayne murder.4 Ward’s trial began on October 6, 2008, more than a year after Stevens’ trial. The jury [555]*555found Ward guilty of first degree murder, among other charges. Following the verdict, Ward moved for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial.

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

Related

Babij v. Cuffy
2025 V.I. 7 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2025)
Berthier v. People of the Virgin Islands
2024 V.I. 35 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2024)
Klein v. Bassil
Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2023
Smith v. Henley
67 V.I. 965 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Phillip v. Marsh-Monsanto
66 V.I. 612 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Moses v. Fawkes
66 V.I. 454 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Pelle v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's of London
66 V.I. 315 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Dessout v. Brin
66 V.I. 308 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
Fawkes v. Sarauw
66 V.I. 237 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2017)
People In re M.R.
64 V.I. 333 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2016)
John v. People
63 V.I. 629 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2015)
In re D. A. B.
63 V.I. 623 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2015)
Appleton v. Harrigan
61 V.I. 262 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2014)
Jung v. Ruiz
59 V.I. 1050 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2013)
Caribbean Healthways, Inc. v. James
59 V.I. 805 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2013)
George v. People
59 V.I. 368 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2013)
Pichierri v. People
58 V.I. 516 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2013)
Nicholas v. People
56 V.I. 718 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2012)
Petrus v. Queen Charlotte Hotel Corp.
56 V.I. 548 (Supreme Court of The Virgin Islands, 2012)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 V.I. 550, 2011 WL 3490547, 2011 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 16, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stevens-v-people-virginislands-2011.