Amos Carty, Jr. Photo Credit: THE V.I. LEGISLATURE
In a 71-page opinion which dissected and repudiated the 2019 verdict that resulted in the conviction of former Schneider Regional Medical Center chief operating officer and legal counsel Amos Carty Jr., the V.I. Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the judgement which found Mr. Carty and others guilty on a combined 44 counts of embezzlement, fraud, grand larceny and violations of the Criminally Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, among other related charges.
Mr. Carty was convicted on Nov. 14, 2019 along with former Schneider chief executive officer Rodney Miller, and Peter Najawicz, the former chief financial officer. The trio had been tried on similar charges in 2011 but a deadlocked jury resulted in a mistrial. In Nov. 2019, they were found guilty on all counts.
At the time, virtually the same direct and circumstantial evidence and first-hand witness accounts in the second trial yielded an outcome vastly more satisfying for V.I. Attorney General Denise George, who at the time stated, “This sends a message that the prosecution of white collar crimes. These types of things should never go unchecked in government. It actually preserves and upholds the integrity of government, and we should always be in the position that we are ready and able” to prosecute these types of cases."
However, the V.I. Supreme Court dissected the case and concluded, "The People failed to introduce sufficient evidence to convict Carty of any of the offenses with which he was charged in the seventh amended information. Accordingly, we reverse the January 9, 2020 judgment and commitment, along with the accompanying January 2, 2020 special verdict and order of forfeiture, in their entirety, and direct the Superior Court on remand to enter a judgment of acquittal on all counts."
See the full opinion here.
