ST. CROIX — A Superior Court judge granted the government’s motion for a temporary restraining order today to postpone a series of Virgin Islands Parole Board hearings that were supposed to begin Monday due to a lack of quorum.
The Virgin Islands Department of Justice, in a complaint filed Friday on behalf of plaintiff Governor Albert Bryan Jr., also seeks the court’s interpretation to determine if a 2024 amendment to the law unconstitutionally alters judicially imposed sentences and parole eligibility for three inmates convicted of murder in connection to what was dubbed the Fountain Valley massacre and a convicted child rapist.
The governor seeks an order declaring the new statute applies only to individuals who became prisoners after the law was enacted in January 2024.
Superior Court Judge Alphonso Andrews Jr. only addressed the quorum issue during an hour-long hearing before verbally granting the TRO. He noted the government presented a strong argument that the Parole Board lacks a quorum and therefore cannot act.
“I would find that the harm is deemed to be present simply because you have a board acting illegally so to speak,” Andrews said before granting the TRO solely on the issue of a lack of quorum.
Assistant Attorney General Christopher Timmons, chief of the DOJ’s Civil Division, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the governor ahead of a series of parole hearings the board was scheduled to begin holding Monday at three prisons on the U.S. mainland where Virgin Islands inmates are housed in addition to the Bureau of Corrections’ facilities on St. Croix and St. Thomas.
“We’re happy with the result today,” Timmons said. “Parole hearings won’t go forward until the court has had an opportunity to rule on the issues we’ve raised.”
In addition to claiming the Parole Board lacks a quorum, the lawsuit seeks an order declaring four inmates ineligible for parole as requested pursuant to a law the governor enacted last year that established a system of medical, geriatric, and nonmedical geriatric parole release. The lawsuit claims the new law unconstitutionally violates the separation of powers outlined in the Revised Organic Act.
Inmates seek parole:
Three of the inmates — Warren Ballentine, Beaumont Gereau, and Meral Smith — were convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the fatal shooting of eight victims on September 6, 1972 at the former Fountain Valley Golf Course on St. Croix. The shooting, a burglary turned deadly, exposed deep-rooted racial, political, and socioeconomic tensions on the island. Sixteen people, including guests and staff, were in the clubhouse area at the posh golf course when a group of masked gunmen started firing at them, killing eight and wounding four as the remaining four escaped without injury. According to court documents, 15 of the victims were white and one was a Black employee at the golf course. Ballentine, Gereau, and Smith were each sentenced in 1973 to eight consecutive life sentences for first-degree murder and assault.
In addition to Ballentine, Gereau, and Smith, two others were convicted of murder for their roles in the Fountain Valley shooting — Ishmael LaBeet and Raphael Joseph.
During trial, civil rights attorney William Kunstler argued for the defense that the Black defendants were politically motivated victims of systematic race-based civil rights deprivation. The defense also asserted confessions police obtained from the defendants were the result of coercion and mistreatment, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the convictions despite the torture allegations.
LaBeet subsequently hijacked an American Airlines flight while being transferred in federal custody for a court appearance and escaped to Cuba in 1984. Joseph was pardoned in 1992 by then-Governor Alexander Farrelly after serving 22 years in prison. Joseph died in 1998.
The fourth inmate seeking parole under the new statute, Tydel John, was an elementary school teacher who was convicted in 2014 in Superior Court on one count of aggravated rape and seven counts of unlawful sexual contact after the prosecution proved that he sexually assaulted six of his female students. He was convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students on two occasions. He was convicted of sexually assaulting and raping one of his students. On June 20, 2014, John was sentenced to prison for multiple 15-year terms for unlawful sexual contact running concurrently with a 50-year term for aggravated rape.
All four inmates applied to the Parole Board for nonmedical geriatric parole pursuant to Act No. 8791, which became codified in the Virgin Islands Code in Title 5, Section 4607 after Bryan signed it into law on January 20, 2024. Prior to the new parole option, the three Fountain Valley inmates would not have been eligible for parole until August 13, 2053, and John would not have been eligible for parole until August 2029. An in-person parole hearing for all four inmates was scheduled for Saturday at Citrus County Detention Facility in Florida.
The four inmates are named as defendants in the lawsuit along with the four members of the Parole Board — Dennis Howell, Chesley Roebuck, Bentley Thomas, and Attorney General Gordon Rhea, an ex officio nonvoting member. Timmons was the only attorney who participated in today’s hearing. Rhea was the only defendant in attendance.
Lack of quorum:
The Parole Board is composed of eight members, including seven voting members appointed by the governor with advice and consent of the Legislature and the attorney general, who serves as an ex officio nonvoting member, according to the VI Code, Title 5, Section 4511.
The governor’s lawsuit argues that the Parole Board lacks a quorum and cannot conduct any official business because it has fewer than four voting members. It cites a regulation found in the Code of Virgin Islands Rules that states a majority of the board’s voting members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of its business. Since the Parole Board has seven voting members, Timmons said a majority of its voting members would be four.
There is also language in the VI Code that states the affirmative votes of three members of the Parole Board shall be necessary to authorize any action of the board and the names of the members so voting shall be entered on the record of the proceedings of the board, according to the VI Code, Title 5, Section 4602. Timmons said the law requires only three voting board members to approve an item after a quorum has been established by four voting members.
During today’s hearing, Timmons argued that the unlawful acts of the Parole Board would harm the community if the board granted parole to an inmate in violation of the law, noting the candidates for parole include convicted murderers and a convicted child rapist.
“The public will be irreparably harmed if people are let out and that parole is granted without a quorum,” he said.
Timmons questioned one witness he called to testify about the Parole Board’s quorum status. Curlita LeBlanc, executive assistant to BOC Director Wynnie Testamark, said the board has four sitting members, including three who are eligible to vote. She said the board lost quorum when Cherrisse Woods resigned as a member on December 5, 2022.
The Parole Board has been meeting and granting parole to inmates since losing its quorum.
If a board vacancy is not filled within 60 days and the result is that the board lacks a quorum, all official actions of the board shall be null and void from the expiration date of the 60-day period until a quorum is established by filling the vacancy, according to the VI Code, Title 3, Section 65a(b). Considering the law, Timmons told WTJX that any past action the Parole Board has taken to grant parole without a quorum would be null and void.
LeBlanc said the BOC director postponed the Parole Board hearing that was scheduled for Monday ahead of today’s court hearing. She said the director would have to decide whether the other scheduled parole hearings would move forward in the absence of a TRO. She said, however, that flights and hotel reservations for the Parole Board members have been canceled.
Senator Franklin Johnson, who sponsored Bill No. 35-0045, which became Act No. 8791, attended the court hearing. If the actions of the Parole Board are invalid because the board lacks a quorum, Johnson said all the inmates who have been illegally granted parole should return to prison.
“They need to go and pick back up every single person that they release; that’s what they need to do,” he said. “If this is going to be the challenge, then carry out the challenge to the fullest. Don’t just deprive those who are trying to go to the Parole Board now.”
Separation of powers:
In addition to claiming the Parole Board lacks a quorum, Bryan argued in his complaint that retroactive application of Act No. 8791 to defendants Ballentine, Gereau, Smith, and John would retroactively modify their sentences in violation of the separation of powers.
Johnson spoke against being selective when it comes to the eligibility requirements for parole. He said the governor is only challenging the legitimacy of the Parole Board in response to the inmates who applied for parole.
“When we start to be selective and not drawing that line across the board, that’s when we become a very dangerous society,” he said. “We become a very dangerous society because prosecution shouldn’t be for me and not for you; decision making shouldn’t be for me and not for you.”
The court appointed attorney Vincent Colianni II to represent the four inmates after determining they were indigent. The court will schedule a hearing next week to address the issue regarding whether the new parole statute can be applied retroactively. The government has also requested a preliminary injunction to prevent the Parole Board from meeting until the court has ruled on all aspects of its complaint.
