I believe the man confessed to the "shooting". I assumed it was some sort of fight. The fact that he turned himself in immediately and has family on-island probably counted in his favor regarding bail.

I don't think that happens here in Philadelphia. If somebody shoots somebody in the head, and then confesses to it, they don't get any bail....what's that all about?

There is an article in yesterday's Virgin Islands Daily News which clearly explains why the shooter was released on a $20,000 unsecured bond into the custody of his mother pending further investigation and independent corroboration of statements made by him to his mother before he turned himself in.

Still don't understand why IF he admitted to the murder that he would have any chance of bail. Doesn't happen like that around here.

For others who aren't there to read the local paper, here's a link to the story under discussion. http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17617952

Bail is used to make sure a suspect stays put until arraignment or trial. Since in America we are considered innocent of crime until found guilty, people are entitled to it under the consittution, provided they are not a flight risk or present danger to others.

According to Wikipedia:

Current U.S. bail law

In 1984 Congress replaced the Bail Reform Act of 1966 with new bail law, codified at United States Code, Title 18, Sections 3141-3150. The main innovation of the new law is that it allows pre-trial detention of individuals based upon their danger to the community; under prior law and traditional bail statutes in the U.S., pre-trial detention was to be based solely upon the risk of flight.

18 USC 3142(f) provides that only persons who fit into certain categories are subject to detention without bail: persons charged with a crime of violence, an offense for which the maximum sentence is life imprisonment or death, certain drug offenses for which the maximum offense is greater than 10 years, repeat felony offenders, or if the defendant poses a serious risk of flight, obstruction of justice, or witness tampering. There is a special hearing held to determine whether the defendant fits within these categories; anyone not within them must be admitted to bail.

State bail laws
Bail laws vary somewhat from state to state, as is typical of U.S. jurisprudence. Generally, a person charged with a non-capital crime is presumptively entitled to be granted bail. Recently, some states have enacted statutes modelled on federal law which permit pretrial detention of persons charged with serious violent offenses, if it can be demonstrated that the defendant is a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Wasn't this defendent released on an unsecured bond by Judge Leon Kendall, the same judge who is under fire CONSTANTLY for his lenient stance on bail?

Any person who turns himself/herself in to the authorities for taking a life in ANY capacity should never be released on any type of unsecured bail. There is NO explanation for this type of judicial behavior.

Leon Kendall needs to be removed from the bench. Period. And this defendent needs to be remanded into custody.

Linda J,
Murder is a capital crime! Pre Trail Detention is warranted.
Dylan,
The defendant in this case wasn't charged with murder! YET! He confessed then lawyerd up.

Yeah, this one's a no-brainer. Stateside they detain him. But having read the VIDaily for some time now, it doesn't surprise me when things are done differently outside the 48.

well, there might be important facts left out of the news either by choice or by them just not knowing. it's being said that this boy (the shooter) was being harassed by the boy shot for some time now and it just boiled over to this. this might be a self defense case and there may witnesses to corroborate this theory. i don't know, but that might have something to do with the incident. i am in no way condoning violence as the answer to any confrontation. i am from st. john and this (murder/shootings) is becoming more and more of a daily occurrence than when i grow up there. maybe with the new governor, things will change, maybe it won't. something has to be done about it. it is making the beautiful island i proudly call home, ugly.......

Linda J.
It is Presumed innocent until proven guilty, not considered! not found!

Presumed innocent until proven guilty.... hmm,
When there's a voluntary, uncoerced confession of guilt, can we not then presume guilt?

maggie,
No dog in this race, just stating the correct term!

I had to look back. Now I get it. LindaJ said "considered innocent until found guilty" and you corrected with "presumed" and "proven."

The link to the VI Daily News article was duly mentioned in a previous post and then another poster provided the link to the article.

With all due respect fto poster "Dylan" I am not a fan of Judge Leon Kendall, spoke out aganst his appointment to the bench from the get-go and subsequently rallied street-front in support of his removal from the bench, In this case, his determination in allowing this young man to be released on a $20K unsecured bond in the custody of his mother was judicially correct.

If you read the article as linked, it is clear that the shooter confessed to his mother what he had done and that she subsequently accompanied her son to the police station to turn himself in. He did NOT confess to the police but lawyered up which is his right. It is very clear from the article that he did NOT confess to the police and that the investigating authorities have to obtain corroborative testimony from witnessing bystanders and others (which apparently are all coming forth as this online debate continues) in order to charge him with anything other than the unlicensed firearm possession conviction with which he was charged and upon which he was allowed out on bond in accordance with Federal law.

Without meaning to give any offence to the off-island posters who rip into threads such as these with protestations of, "That wouldn't happen in MY home town, the VIPD is rotten, the VI judicial system is rotten, etc," I'd say thus.

Do you really know what happens in your own 'hood' where justice is concerned? Do you have any idea about criminal law and how the system works?

I think that some of you naysayers of the judicial system here find it easier to rip into your perceived ideology of the judicial system by attacking a remote US island's jurisdiction which you perceive as being some kind of "third world" in that respect but which you visit only occasionally while you totally ignore what's going on where your home turf is concerned.

It's awful that, according to latest reports, a young man was shot and killed because he and another young man who apparently had an ongoing dispute and who happened to have a gun got into a melee and one died.

I'm not sure that I've made any point at all but I can pretty much guarantee that some negative feedback is in order. Cheers!

my thoughts on off islanders and their opinions about anything other than hotels beaches and restaurants, you really do not have a valid opinion until you move here and register to vote then you have the right to complain, it's way to easy for you people to armchair quarterback the system here, those of us who choose to live, work and vote here recognize the problems here and are trying to effect change, but change anywhere is slow and here it's slower. For 14 years i've never had a problem here crime wise but i've seen it happen to others, yes murder happens but it happens everywhere think new orleans and other island tourist destination places, if you want a white bread sanitized vacation go on a cruise or disneyland, the us virgin islands are SAFE, they are beautiful, you need to ask yourself why are there literally hundreds of older couples and single wandering around not being robbed murdered and molested.

I don't know if this legally constitutes a "confession" but according to the article, "Abraham also told Sgt. Angelo Hill that he shot and killed Smith." He apparently didn't "lawyer up" until sometime after his lawyer arrived and before the major crimes unit arrived.

Mountain Runner