Special Privileges for Attorney Lee Rohn’s Plea In Drug Case?
Prosecution requests "off calendar" hearing in seven year old felony case
Atty. Lee Rohn
It may very well be legal, but it certainly is peculiar.
If the Virgin Islands Superior Court agrees, and nearly seven years after the alleged offense, St. Croix Attorney Lee Rohn will enter a plea sometime after Sunday, February 14, to answer criminal charges filed against her by the Virgin Islands government in April of 2003 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. And if the Superior Court agrees, the hearing will be held on an “off calendar” day.
The request is made more unusual by the fact that it was the prosecuting attorney, Melissa P. Moroney of the Virgin Islands Attorney General’s office, who filed the motion because the defense had a scheduling issue.
The motion, filed Dec. 4, 2009, in the Virgin Islands Superior Court, requests “that this Honorable Court schedule a change of plea hearing in the above captioned matter sometime after February 14, 2010, due to the schedules of the defense. The defense requests an off-calendar day and the People have no objection.” (Italics. bold added, motion attached)
We’ve got some questions. But first, a little background.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2003, when Rohn was stopped during a routine security screening at St. Croix’s Henry Rohlson airport, it was discovered that she was carrying what a police affidavit described as “a substance believed to be marijuana in a vacuum sealed plastic bag and further contained in a tennis shoe,” in her bag. The substance was later verified as marijuana. The court document went on to say that when questioned, Rohn allegedly told a US customs officer that she was taking the drugs to her boyfriend in Puerto Rico.
Rohn was fined at that time for failing to list the drugs on her customs form. Five days later, on April 4, 2003, she was formally arrested and charged with felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. In explaining the lag between the incident and the arrest, a law enforcement official said at the time that officials had been thorough in their investigation and wanted to be sure they had “credible evidence and everything they needed before the arrest,” according to reports. She was released on her own recognizance on a $10,000 bond.
Since that time, Rohn has exercised multiple legal means to avoid pleading in the case, including asserting that a criminal proceeding after she had already paid a fine at customs constituted “double jeopardy,” that is being penalized for the same incident more than once; claiming that she had been improperly charged; and asking that some evidence be suppressed from being submitted in the event of a trial. (Double Jeopardy and Improperly Charged case attached)
It now appears that a plea will be entered despite all efforts. And in a gesture of remarkable accommodation, the prosecution has requested that the court schedule the plea hearing sometime after February 14 because the defense has a scheduling issue.
We don’t claim to be attorneys, but a couple of things seem pretty clear cut. Rohn was in possession of a controlled substance. This is not in dispute. That is a crime. She was stopped on her way to board a plane. That means the controlled substance was planned to go with her.
What is there to plead?
Any savvy attorney will use all means and resources at his or her disposal to handle a matter like this and that should not be a surprise. But what is troubling is that after all this time, seven years, it appears that the resolution will be a plea bargain that the prosecution has requested be submitted on an “off calendar” day.
Why did the prosecution file this motion? If the defense has a scheduling issue, would it not be logical that counsel for the defense would petition the court and seek agreement from the prosecution? And why “off calendar?” What reason is there for this hearing to be handled differently from any other matter of this type?
These are legitimate questions that deserve an answer. In this time when the public trust in Government and its agencies is at a significant low, one would think that all efforts would be made to assure that where there is an opportunity for some “transparency” that opportunity would be taken.
We hope the Department of Justice is aware that this is a highly visible case, and that the way it dispenses justice in this matter will be closely watched by a very aware community.
We will keep you posted.
Loading ...
Why is Atty Lee-Rohn given these special privileges???? what makes her any different from any other individual who have been busted for possession of illegal substance?????this is ridiculous.
This is the deJongh Regime. We can do what ever we want.
That is meant to be sarcastic.
Lee Rohn has a lot of dirt on a lot of people.
Wow then we need to move on and get some people in office that we can trust to handle matters better.
Gee the courts actually work on a Sunday? I find it hard to believe they work during the week with all the cases that are backed up in Frazer’s office!
Another question about his case is the fact that it took seven year to even have a plea hearing against Lee Rohn. Why did this case drag on for so long? The court haven’t even set a trail date. Something is seriously wrong with this case.
Great Chess play by the administration:
“He who divides, is he who conquers!”
This is another move to control the “Center.”
We have not yet entered the “End Game.”
All this story needs is for this case to be pled in front of newly anointed Superior Court Judge Adam Christian.
Then it will be time for the populace to rise up and bear arms.
All this crap about who’s got what on who is getting old. Near as I can tell, going that route with this administration would clean out the house in one fell swoop.
This woman is and has been a disgrace to the legal profession FOR YEARS and the fact that this has gone on for this long, that the VI Bar Association has not done so much as verbally sanction her, and that there is a move from the ATTY GENERAL’s office to conduct this behind closed doors is absurd.
People are under golden grove for less than this. It is an outrage.
‘Clock’,I’m not too sure Adam Christian,knowing what all is swirling around him,would give this accused any slack.But I do know that if the ‘roll of the dice’puts her before a certain judge she’s going to be in a heap o’boiling water.An interesting case,this.
@Soldier,
I’m hoping for the “boiling water” but word on the street is this is all part of a larger scheme and getaway deal for this disgrace to the legal profession.
And if Christian did not have the personal integrity to remove himself from the process until the Mafolie investigation was completed, I have little faith that he would do anything more than he was instructed should this case come before him.
What I don’t know is how judges are assigned so I don’t know what the odds are that it would come before him.
If that is the case (and we will know soon) it should be one more strong indicator of just how deep the decay has gone through all levels of the current government.
We shall see.
I’ll bet that they won’t take five days to arrest an unconnected local that they found transporting drugs to PR and admitting to it. For shame VI.
Thanks for the background info,’Clock’.Sounds very troubling.
Where are the documents to support the allegations? Is this a special privileges? Who is the judge? What penalties she faces? Questions and assertions, but too few answers. Call the IG.
@ Legal Mind (oh yeah, i’m laughing at your blog name)
All the documents you need are attached to this article. And they aren’t allegations – she admitted she had the drugs.
So read before you write, “Counselor.”
Rohn is a wildeyed ragging bully. She’s great at taking snippits of truth then twists and destorts the facts to glean convictions or settlements which pads her pockets with gold and leaves stipends for her clients. It seems no one ever wants to deal with her. Instead, people run to avoid her wrath. It’s time she has to pay for her crime, just as she has made others do. Have you ever been on the wrong side of her?
You are so right Ready for change, but dose she not sound like someone else that call every talk show? This is getting so bad, this is not the type of Virgin Islands that I want to live in, something has to be done about what is happening in our home.
You know,there were two Old Time Judges I knew who would have liked to have dealt with the likes of this Lee Rhon.Judge Cyril
Michael and Judge Alphonse Christian.They may not have operated out of fancy chambers’ and what have you.Didn’t have to as none of that had anything to do with the knowledge and application of law.But they sure knew how to circumcize those came into their chamber thinking they were ‘special’ and above the law.
The number of people Atty Rohn has bought off with cash or other “trade” has certainly affected this case
It’s the same judge assigned to the case as before. There has been no change in that regard. Her case has been and continues to be before Darryl “Dumb” Donohue.