ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Department of Justice recently filed a motion to dismiss murder charges against two cousins accused in the fatal shootings of Stacie Schjang and Arnold Jarvis Jr. due to lack of evidence.
Assistant Attorney General Kippy Roberson, in a motion filed Wednesday in Superior Court on St. Croix, moved to dismiss charges of first-degree murder, assault, reckless endangerment, and firearm and ammunition charges against Joshawn Ayala and Anthony Schneider without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled in the future.
The prosecutor noted in the motion his request to dismiss the charges was because the government cannot meet its burden of proof at this time.
Ayala and Schneider are accused of killing friends Schjang and Jarvis on two separate occasions. Schjang died on January 27, 2022 when a stray bullet entered through her bedroom window and struck her in the chest. Jarvis was shot to death February 4, 2022 at the beach near Southgate Coastal Reserve and Green Cay.
Jarvis told police officer Leon Cruz on the day of the January shooting that he was traveling to Schjang’s house in the Castle Coakley area to deliver her breakfast when he heard gunshots that shattered his rear window, so he continued driving past her house to avoid getting shot and returned to his residence at John F. Kennedy Terrace housing community, according to court documents. Investigators, who recovered 21 spent cartridges from the road in front of Schjang’s house, determined Schjang died from one of the bullets meant for Jarvis.
On the day Schjang died, Jarvis identified to Cruz that the people shooting at him from a white Toyota Corolla or Yaris as “two light-skinned individuals,” according to court documents. He also told Cruz the shooters were “them boys from The Meadows residential area, Ayala them.” He later provided Cruz with photos of Ayala and Schneider. He then told Cruz on February 1 that “the streets are saying” Ayala and Schneider were the ones who tried to kill him in Castle Coakley. Police used video surveillance to identify that a white Toyota Corolla rented by Schneider was following Jarvis the morning of Schjang’s death. A confidential informant told police he/she saw the same rental car that was identified by its license plate parked at Ayala’s residence, and that Ayala exited the vehicle.
Naomi Joseph, acting deputy police chief for St. Croix who served as chief of detectives during the investigation into the killings of Schjang and Jarvis, said placing Jarvis in protective custody would have been an option if he would have cooperated with police and provided an official statement. Even though Jarvis made statements to Cruz, Joseph said he was killed before police had a chance to obtain his official statement.
“Arnold Jarvis was not cooperating to say anything, so I couldn’t place him in protective custody,” she said.
Although Jarvis indicated to Cruz that the two cousins were the individuals who shot at him and killed Schjang, Ayala’s public defender moved to exclude his statements from being admitted during trial.
Assistant Territorial Public Defender Truman Coe, in his motion to exclude the statements made by Jarvis filed on February 3, argued the statements were “testimonial” and therefore barred from being introduced into evidence against Ayala at trial. He argued the court, which has not yet ruled on the motion, should find that the statements should not be admitted because Ayala has not had an opportunity to confront and cross-examine Jarvis.
On March 7, Roberson opposed Ayala’s motion to exclude Jarvis’ statements. The prosecutor pointed out that Ayala and Schneider allegedly tried to kill Jarvis in front of Schjang’s house when a stray bullet killed her. He suggested the defendants knew Jarvis was a witness to Schjang’s killing and could identify them as the shooters, so they stalked him over the eight days leading to his death utilizing the rented Toyota and Ayala’s Honda Civic that was identified by surveillance cameras on the East End the day Jarvis was killed. Roberson argued the court should not exclude Jarvis’ statements because the defendants knew he was a witness in Schjang’s killing and made him unavailable as a witness. Although the Constitution gives an accused the right to confront witnesses at trial, he argued Jarvis is unavailable to testify as a result of Ayala’s wrongdoing so his statements should be admitted.
The defense, in a response to the government’s opposition filed on March 17, noted there is no evidence that Ayala committed any wrongdoing that made Jarvis unavailable as a witness. Coe also argued that Jarvis’ statements were inconsistent because he initially told police he saw “two light-skinned individuals” shooting at him but then said it was “Ayala them” before stating “the streets are saying” it was Ayala and Schneider. He argued the defense would have no opportunity to test the veracity of Jarvis’ statements if they were admitted.
