First post!
This is from Tobal v. Virgin Islands Police Department, decided 13JAN22. This is a 1985/1983 claims case coming after an arrest for Armed Robbery of a Bank. Before going any further I should mention that just about the entire VIPD and VIDOJ has been under investigation for various forms of Const violations.
Also, either Tobal was pro se for most of this case and only got a lawyer at the last moment, or he has a case for a incompetent lawyer considering that he almost lost ALL of his claims due to failure to serve the defendants!
Damn does this reek of violations, to say the least. I use DC as short hand for District Court here.
After reading the entire thing it became fairly obvious that the DC has it's head up it's rear end.
First a little info. The robbery itself occurred around 11:30am. Two bank staffers claimed to have recognized the robber from his voice because he was a weekly customer(huh? I guess bank tellers in the VI have damn near perfect memory!) Note, at least 2 of the 3 cases the court cited as allowing voice recognition to support probable cause concerned recognition by supervisors or coworkers or both. Either both of these people had way above average memories, or something fishy is going on. The DC also failed to take in account the fact that the two of them compared stories, or the fact that the defendant Dwayne Torbal also had a near identical brother.
Next, what I see as the most glaring problem, as in WTF?
This is the inconsistencies between the affidavit for the warrant(which was applied for in the evening of the same day as the robbery) and what that same officer said during the bail hearing(9 days later it looks like).
From the affidavit: "The affidavit provided to the Superior Court Judge reported the statements of the bank employees and also reported that Detective Jose Silva had visited Catalina Pool and spoke to an employee who reported that Tobal had left the business at about 11:00 a.m. and was dressed in a black t-shirt, black pants, black boots, and a black hair stocking."
From the bail hearing: "Defendant Silva also confirmed that Plaintiff had told police that he had been at work at the time of the robbery. Silva testified officers did not try to contact the supervisor or general manager of Catalina Pool that day to confirm Plaintiff's alibi because it was after 5:00 p.m. when they finished Tobal's interview. Instead, the VIPD was focused on obtaining arrest and search warrants."
WTF? Either Detective Silva visited Catalina Pool(Tobal's work place) or he did not. Why this a concern? Because multiple people, the day after the robbery(via signed affidavit)(including the General Manager, his Supervisor, his wife and a coworker) stated that Tobal did not leave until some time after 12pm. Also, note that the affidavit mentions Silva talking to an employee, but not who or when; Silva talked to Tabal after the robbery and before applying for the arrest warrant, and Tabal told him he was at work waiting for his wife to pick him up.
Next up, what would be witness tampering if it was done by anyone but the Government. This concerns statements made by Acting Police Chief Oakland Benta and Commissioner(police?) Novelle E. Francis, Jr after a local radio show started discussing the case on or about 21JUL08 and a couple of people called in stating the Tobal had not committed the robbery.
Benta went on the show and made a couple of statements. One was the police "firmly believe they have the right suspect in custody". Another was the police "had left no stone unturned" during their investigation. NOTE: The police did very little after the arrest of Tobal.
Following Defendant Benta's appearance on the radio show, Commissioner Novelle E. Francis, Jr. released a public statement assuring the community that "the arrest was `solid' and based on `sound evidence.'" Francis' statement also warned residents that making false statements to police was perjury and was punishable by imprisonment.
After several more days of public discussion, the radio show host was contacted by someone on behalf of the Governor's Office and was told that the broadcast discussions of the arrest should be discontinued.
The Acting Police Chief really did not do much besides straight out lie, i.e. having left no stone unturned, considering that they more or less had done didlly squat.
The Commissioner on the other hand came out and made threats of perjury charges since the arrest was "solid" and based on "sound evidence".
And of course that last statement that someone from the Governor's Office contacted the radio show host and told them that discussions of the arrest should be discontinued is a BIG FIRST ADMENMENT violation!
The DC had no problem with any of this and merely said that the plaintiff failed to tie the Chief' and Commissaire' actions together so as to support a conspiracy charge.
I'm too tired now to continue, but please read the entire thing. There looks to be witness tampering in there and a Brady violation too make it even sweeter(sarcasm)
