What is wrong in the VI?

From the article - "Former Sen. Carmen Wesselhoft, who was in the courtroom at the sentencing of her nephew also would not comment. During her term, she was chairman of the Legislature’s Public Safety, Homeland Security and Justice Committee"

Is that an implication of corruption of the justice department?

This freaked me out when I heard it on the Alvin G news on Friday. The guy had a friggin machine gun. That is supposed to be a mandatory 5 years. Is there justice or "just us"?

Typical:X

at first i thought this was a retorical question

Nuts!!!

Your sentence is a stint in trade school and when you finish your sentence your record gets expunged!!! Seriously - how does this happen for someone caught with enough drugs to distribute, an illegal assault rifle, and after a high-speed chase from the cops!!!

Seems some things are cheap here afterall. It appears you can buy votes with a fish fry. I wonder what it takes to buy a lenient court sentence - a bushel of mangoes perhaps?

Seems like a question that is being asked all over the internet. It is a complicated matter, but this is one answer: http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/police-commissioner-blasts-judge-over-gun-sentencing-1.912891

Thanks for posting this EE.

The criminal justice system here is a HUGE part of the problem and it's not an easy thing to fix. I find it encouraging that Police Commissioner Francis is willing to speak out about it. That's a start. Unfortunately, the police may be as helpless as the rest of us when it comes to fixing our injustice system.

Is it just a coincidence that the thug that got the ridiculously light sentence in this case is the nephew of former Sen. Carmen Wesselhoft who served as chairman of the Public Safety, Homeland Security and Justice Committee? If so, we seem to have a lot of such coincidences here. Hmmm...

Thugs here know that they are unlikely to be caught and arrested. Then, when the police do their jobs well, the courts let the crooks off with a light sentence or no sentence at all. That puts everyone at an ever increasing risk.

I believe that it starts with a little problem with the law. Like running a light or cutting into a gas station to save the time at a light. A little dope, some domestic violence, a general lack that laws apply to you and it jeeps getting worse and worse. Add to it that the judges are a bunch of of dummies as shown in the atricle referenced. The add to it that the police department for years and years has been a police department in name only. Add to it that the pay is not very good. And you get what you deserve. A MURDER RATE THAT WILL BE TWENTY TIMES THE WORST CITY IN THE COUNTY. TWENTY TIMES!!! The domestic violance is out of control. Rapes of 13 year olds. A brother LILLING his sister. Ned I go on? I truly am thinking about selling out and leaving. I thought I would never say that. But I see the crime problem only getting worse, not better.

But those were my thoughts.

Billd

This is way over the edge.
This judge needs to be held accountable for this light sentence
Is there some one that reviews a judge's decision ?
After the police risk their lives to catch this very bad guy and then the judge lets him off, these cops have to feel betrayed at the very least.
I'm sure all of us feel like the judge has "sold" us out to bad guys
Maybe we should check his bank account for a recent large deposit

Seems we have another Leon Kendall on our hands(or worse)!!!!

http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/teacher-pleads-guilty-to-aggravated-assault-in-sexual-abuse-case-1.826567

The last thing we need is another crappy Kedallesk judge who releases this $hit to reap havoc on our community!

Is there any way to petition this judge?

Nuts!!!

Your sentence is a stint in trade school and when you finish your sentence your record gets expunged!!! Seriously - how does this happen for someone caught with enough drugs to distribute, an illegal assault rifle, and after a high-speed chase from the cops!!!

Seems some things are cheap here afterall. It appears you can buy votes with a fish fry. I wonder what it takes to buy a lenient court sentence - a bushel of mangoes perhaps?

Seems like a question that is being asked all over the internet. It is a complicated matter, but this is one answer: http://virginislandsdailynews.com/news/police-commissioner-blasts-judge-over-gun-sentencing-1.912891

O.K.... don't focus on the bad! (although there is a lot of it!)

Golly! We usually get accused of ignoring and covering up bad stuff.:-)

This particular mess had me reeling for weeks. I just couldn't believe how this could happen. I posted on another forum and asked the St. John Source to do a follow up story to try and explain how the hell something like this could happen. Here is the story that The Source did.

I urge everyone to contact all of the Senators and Governor and tell them that this kind of stuff is not ok and we want some answers and action. I did just that, via email, and received 4 replies. Senators Barshinger, O'Rieley, Sanes, and Hill. Two of them didn't even know about it, two of them were just as disgusted as I am. To make it easier for you, just copy paste this in your "TO" line:

senator@barshinger.net, senatormichaelthurland@msn.com, cdowe@legvi.org, wagj91461@hotmail.com, lp_hill@yahoo.com, awilliams@legvi.org, cwhite@legvi.org, njames3033@yahoo.com, senatorp.sprauve@gmail.com, sammuelsanes@yahoo.com, tnelson@legvi.org, teamnellie@gmail.com, adonastorg@legvi.org, senatorrichards@hotmail.com, contact@governordejongh.com, smmalone1@yahoo.com

Although I don't know a whole lot about Commissioner Francis, I have to give him some props for speaking out. From what I've seen of him, he doesn't seem to be very political. Something I am sure annoys the politicians, but as a regular ol' citizen, I appreciate. This kind of sentencing really sends the Police force and community as a whole the wrong message.

It's not just this issue either....we have issues for sure. I encourage everyone to send an email about anything they are concerned about. The Senators are supposed to be our voice. If they can't hear us, they are not going to act.