Judge of the Day: Why Don’t You Crack Open a Red Stripe And Chill Out?
Groundhog Day just passed, which means that we still have an interminable amount of time left before the Sun returns with its cancerous rays of happiness. In times like these, I often ponder the much better quality of life available in tropical climes (assuming you are flush with hard currency). Sunny days, swaying palms, and friends who are laid back, not laid off.
But unlike the lifestyle displayed in beer commercials, sometimes tropical rat race (lizard longjump?) can be just as punishing as what we have up north:
An assistant attorney general got out of jail Tuesday after V.I. Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall had him arrested for appearing 10 minutes late to a court hearing.
The Virgin Islands Attorney General did not appreciate having one of his employees thrown in jail for tardiness:
In a news release Tuesday, Attorney General Vincent Frazer said he was pleased that Kendall had accepted Bethel’s apology to the court and allowed him to be released from jail without paying a high bail.“As an officer of the court, I respect the authority of the judiciary and expect my attorneys general to do the same,” Frazer said. “I regret if any comments I made regrading the matter may have offended or appeared disparaging to the court.”
In a published report Tuesday, Frazer was quoted as saying he considered Kendall’s action “a very far-reaching abuse of judicial discretion.”
Instead of blaming the judge, maybe A.G. Frazer should have looked to his own house. Being ten minutes late seems to be the least of his surrogate’s problems.
Details after the jump.
You have to wonder if Assistant Attorney General Jesse Bethel takes this whole “lawyer” thing seriously. Showing up late to court is a party foul, messing up a plea agreement should get you kicked out of the party:
Speaking Tuesday evening, Bethel explained the events leading to Monday’s court hearing. At a pre-trial conference Friday, he said, the defense attorneys — Steven Hogroian, representing Ford, and Samuel Joseph, representing Paris — claimed Bethel offered them a plea of involuntary manslaughter. The attorneys presented a tape recording of a conversation which they said documented the offer.Bethel acknowledged he said “involuntary” in the conversation. But, he said, “I meant to say voluntary.” He continued, “If I misspoke or made a mistake, that’s not the end of it. There is a greater requirement of fact. This is not a word game. We need to establish on record what the facts of the case will support.”
Then Bethel dazzled listeners with his 1L Contracts knowledge:
The defense is “not entitled to a plea of involuntary manslaughter,” Bethel said …“It’s called a meeting of the minds,” the assistant attorney general said. “In contract principle a meeting of the minds is the same thing agreed on by all parties. It is the policy of the Department of Justice that plea deals are offered in writing for the protection of the defendants and the government.”
If I screwed up a plea agreement and was resorting to contracts to make it right, I might be a little late to my judicial smack down as well. Jesse Bethel might need to change his latitude.
Prosecutor Released After Getting Jailed for Being 10 Minutes Late [St. Croix Source]
(26) 
Comments
Figgiti FIRST!
Captain FIRST!
Whoooray QUEER!
firsty? damn, epic fail
I question how much this blog is starting rot my brain when instead of reading the posts, I'm instead more intrigued by the fact that I was nearly 1st...I'm thinking its probably because it was a Elie post...
worst story ever. Pointless and a waste of time. Defendants always fight over plea deals. There are long lines of cases covering what constitutes the "deal". You also made no connection between the jail and the plea.
The judge must be a transplant. I have a case in the Virgin Islands, and there is nothing on those islands that is timely.
This is a waste of court resources as well as an abuse of judicial discretion by the judge.
Unbelievable
Is this the blog where they discuss the financial industry?
Elie:
For those of us who lack a Harvard Law School education, could you please decipher the following:
"But unlike lifestyle displayed in beer commercials, sometimes tropical rat race (lizard longjump?) can be just as punishing as what we have up north:"
Elie,
Good post--I thought your additions were funny.
ya me like too much (giraffe town?!?) this one WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO:
"But unlike lifestyle displayed in beer commercials, sometimes tropical rat race (lizard longjump?) can be just as punishing as what we have up north:"
9: In New York, we have rats, we're just like rats racing to get the cheese. The Caribbean has lizards and (probably?) not rats. Thus, the race, or longjump, must involve an indigenous species. I suppose he could have also said "like sharks swimming to the bleeding diver" but that's just kind of sick ...
Good post. Elie is finally starting to show some style.
The lizard longjump joke was funny, if grammatically messy.
Is there any reason for the ungodly pressure being placed on my sphincter?
Are they hiring down there!?!
I wonder why the AG would reference contract theory when talking about plea bargaining, MysTTTal?
Elie:
I think they call it an EPIC FAIL when you only correct one of the grammatical errors. It still sounds like Yoda speak:
"But unlike the lifestyle displayed in beer commercials, sometimes tropical rat race (lizard longjump?) can be just as punishing as what we have up north:"
Red Stripe is from Jamaica...not the VI...but, you know, they all look like, right?
Elie,
How does the quoted passage follow from your saying the Attorney General did not appreciate having one of his employees thrown in jail?
Anon.
I am offended by ethnic beer. Please purge.
Also why did he make comments regrading the matter? What was it's orignal grade? D- or C+?
And Corona is from Mexico. But Bethel's father was born in New York City. Wow, what could I have possibly been thinking?
--Elie
Elie,
Contracts principles are applied to plea agreements. The application is not as direct as these guys argued, but it's not as outrageous as you make it out to be.
Elie apparently moonlights as an AAG in the Virgin Islands.
24- Not! If he did, he would have referred to Heinee's and not Red Stripes and push-up contests and not long jump contests with respect to the lizards. Maybe he should have consulted with the Thug's Lawyer on this one.
Like Judges everywhere, USVI judges get very offended and irate when anyone is late to a court hearing. While everything, including court cases, in the VI does tend to run slowly, VI Judges demand punctuality. They see tardiness as a refusal to give them the power and respect they deserve.