More Judicial Nominations Will Come Soon, Bryan Promises, While Acknowledging Need For Legislation To Address Backlogs

After announcing the nomination of Magistrate Venetia Velazquez to ascend to the bench of the Superior Court in the District of St. Croix, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. acknowledged that more is needed to assist the judiciary in clearing the huge backlog of cases that have accumulated over the years.  In September, there were more than 12,000 cases pending in the Virgin Islands courts. At the time, Senator Novelle Francis said that the biggest contributing factor to that backlog was judicial vacancies. Associate Supreme Court Justice Harold L. Willocks warned that a “significant crisis of judicial vacancies” would come before the end of the year unless replacements for jurists at the end of their terms, or those signaling retirement were made in a timely manner.  In mid-October, Governor Bryan nominated attorney Melanie Turnbull to serve as the Superior Court's Family Division judge in the St. Thomas-St. John district. With Magistrate Velazquez's elevation, two new jurists will soon be o...