The Bobster
Senior News Editor since 2004
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Suspects in Queens tourists slay ask for charges to be dropped
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -- Two brothers accused of killing two New York tourists in the U.S. Virgin Islands said the charges against them must be dropped because the prosecution's lone eyewitness has recanted his statement, their attorney said Tuesday.
The motion to dismiss is the second in two weeks by the brothers' attorney, Stephen Brusch, who last week accused public prosecutors of withholding evidence from the defense.
His clients - Akil Hart, 19, and Jahmal Hart, 21 - were charged with first-degree murder last year after the witness told investigators he saw the brothers shoot the tourists from Queens in the early hours of June 15, 2005. The men had been visiting the Caribbean island chain for a wedding.
But the witness, Goshnel Walters, recently told The Virgin Islands Daily News that he did not see the crime and said police coerced him to identify the Harts after the victims were found on a street in the U.S. territory's capital, Charlotte Amalie. The newspaper published his comments last week.
The territory's acting attorney general, Elliott Davis, said officials would discuss Walters' recanted statement in a Thursday pretrial conference. He would not comment further.
The trial is scheduled to start Jan. 16 in Virgin Islands Superior Court. If convicted of the slayings of Tristan A. Charlier, 24, and Leon H. Roberts, 25, the Harts could be sentenced to life in prison.
Suspects in Queens tourists slay ask for charges to be dropped
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) -- Two brothers accused of killing two New York tourists in the U.S. Virgin Islands said the charges against them must be dropped because the prosecution's lone eyewitness has recanted his statement, their attorney said Tuesday.
The motion to dismiss is the second in two weeks by the brothers' attorney, Stephen Brusch, who last week accused public prosecutors of withholding evidence from the defense.
His clients - Akil Hart, 19, and Jahmal Hart, 21 - were charged with first-degree murder last year after the witness told investigators he saw the brothers shoot the tourists from Queens in the early hours of June 15, 2005. The men had been visiting the Caribbean island chain for a wedding.
But the witness, Goshnel Walters, recently told The Virgin Islands Daily News that he did not see the crime and said police coerced him to identify the Harts after the victims were found on a street in the U.S. territory's capital, Charlotte Amalie. The newspaper published his comments last week.
The territory's acting attorney general, Elliott Davis, said officials would discuss Walters' recanted statement in a Thursday pretrial conference. He would not comment further.
The trial is scheduled to start Jan. 16 in Virgin Islands Superior Court. If convicted of the slayings of Tristan A. Charlier, 24, and Leon H. Roberts, 25, the Harts could be sentenced to life in prison.