ST. CROIX — A jury acquitted Pernell Towers Jr. of all charges including first-degree murder in connection to the March 20, 2019 killing of Kelvin Woodson outside Harmony Grocery and Bar in Watergut after deliberating for about four hours Wednesday in Superior Court.
The jury returned not guilty verdicts on all nine counts following a four-day trial that started last Friday with jury selection.
Family and friends of both Towers and Woodson attended the trial daily as the attorneys presented their cases.
Although the prosecution’s key witness, Richard Motta Sr., testified on Monday that he saw Towers shoot Woodson, the defense attempted to paint Motta as a possible murder suspect and offered three alibi witnesses who testified that Towers was with his family during the shooting.
The defense argued that Towers was at his girlfriend’s residence in Harborview Apartments at the time of the shooting. The jury heard testimony from three alibi witnesses — Ronald James, Selwyn Gonzalez, and Makema Danielson, the defendant’s girlfriend and mother to their four children. The prosecution questioned the credibility of the alibi witnesses.
As Towers exited court Wednesday, he declined to comment on the verdict. His attorney, H. Hannibal O’Bryan, chief conflict counsel with the Office of Conflict Counsel, offered brief comments.
“Justice prevailed,” O’Bryan said.
The court appointed the OCC to represent Towers after granting a motion from the Office of the Territorial Public Defender that it be relieved as counsel. The attorney from the Public Defender’s Office, who was assigned to the case, previously served as assistant attorney general on one of Towers’ matters, according to the motion. The public defender wanted to avoid the appearance of impropriety or possible conflict of interest.
The OCC, established by the VI Supreme Court in 2022, provides court-appointed legal representation to indigent criminal defendants in cases where the Public Defender’s Office has a conflict of interest.
O’Bryan represented Towers along with attorney Kathryn Slade, assistant conflict counsel with the OCC.
Assistant Attorney General Kippy Roberson, who prosecuted the case, offered brief remarks.
“All poop,” he said.
Karole Ovesen-McGregor, Woodson’s sister, said the Virgin Islands Police Department did an “inadequate” job investigating the case, and the Department of Justice did a “poor” job presenting its case at trial.
“I, as a law-abiding citizen of this community, was totally disappointed in the judicial system of the Virgin Islands,” she said.
Shawna Richards, Woodson’s first cousin, said the family waited patiently for six years for the case to go to trial. She said family members had to sit in court and watch the defendant, who became a free man, while they will never again feel Woodson’s love.
“The legal system failed his family today,” she said.
After two days of testimony on Monday and Tuesday, the attorneys presented their closing arguments Wednesday before the case went to the jury.
Roberson, during his closing arguments, told the jury the only question they had to answer was who killed Woodson. He reminded the jurors that Motta told them who did it. He clarified Motta initially told police at the crime scene that he did not see anything because he did not want others to know he was cooperating with police. After the shooting as a crowd gathered, Roberson said Towers threatened to kill anyone who dared to identify him as the shooter. He said Motta identified Towers as the shooter when questioned by police during a video interview presented to the jury during trial. He noted, however, that Motta mistakenly identified the victim as Mr. Ovesen instead of Mr. Woodson. He said Motta also identified Towers as the shooter from a photo array presented to him on March 22, 2019.
“This is not a case of mistaken identity,” Roberson told the jury. “He knew both of these people — the victim and the defendant.”
O’Bryan, during his closing arguments, said police found shell casings inside Harmony Grocery and Bar, suggesting the shooter was in the store. He said Woodson opened the door to the store and immediately got shot by someone already in the store. He said Motta testified that Woodson quickly approached the store as another person who was armed with a firearm followed him. O’Bryan questioned why an armed person chasing someone would go inside the store and wait until the person opened the door to fire gunshots.
O’Bryan said a call to 911 the same day of the shooting reported shots fired from a black truck, noting that Motta testified that he drove his black truck to Harmony Grocery and Bar. O’Bryan, however, pointed out that Motta’s truck was not visible in the crime scene photos. He questioned how police excluded Motta as the shooter, suggesting Motta could have gotten into an argument with Woodson and shot him. He said someone made the decision to exclude Motta as a suspect because he got grazed by a bullet and had a bloodshot eye. He said, however, that Motta’s injury was not visible on a video taken the next day.
Although O’Bryan raised an issue about a black truck firing shots, Roberson dismissed it as a coincidence unrelated to Woodson’s killing.
The prosecution rested its case Tuesday after questioning the St. Croix medical examiner, Dr. Jacqueline Pender.
Pender, who testified as an expert in forensic pathology, said an autopsy she performed on Woodson revealed he died from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso. She said his body had five entrance wounds and three exit wounds, adding that two projectiles remained in his body.
O’Bryan, during his closing arguments, raised an issue with Motta’s testimony that Towers fired two shots in the air. He said police found five shell casings, noting the medical examiner testified that Woodson was shot five times. O’Bryan, however, said there should have been seven spent cartridges.
“Where’s the other two? he asked. “That doesn’t add up.”
In addition to first-degree murder, Towers was acquitted of first-degree assault, three counts of third-degree assault, unauthorized possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, possession of ammunition, first-degree reckless endangerment, and discharging or aiming a firearm.
Officials from the Department of Justice recently faced criticism from senators during a Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance meeting days after a jury acquitted Franklin Xavier of second-degree assault. Xavier represented himself and prevailed against Assistant Attorney General Amie Simpson, chief of the Criminal Division on St. Croix.
