The suspect in two separate killings in 2023 will not face trial on either one until at least 2026; this prospect became clear after a Wednesday hearing in Superior Court at what was supposed to be final pretrial motions in the case of Richardson Dangleben Jr.
Dangleben’s name is most closely associated with the fatal shooting of Police Detective Delberth Phipps Jr. in Hospital Ground on July 4, 2023. At the time of that incident, the defendant was also facing charges linked to an earlier shooting death — that of Keith A. Jennings on Feb. 24, 2023.
Jury selection in the Jennings case was scheduled to start Oct. 20, but on Wednesday Superior Court Judge Denise Francois said proceedings would be delayed until next year. The hearing was held to consider pretrial motions, including a request for a change of venue to St. Croix.
Motions filed by defense attorney Carl R. Williams also included a request to drop four illegal weapons counts appearing on the charging documents filed by the Justice Department.
Dangleben appeared at Wednesday’s hearing by way of livestream video from the Bureau of Corrections facility on St. Thomas.
Francois told Williams and Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Weddle that changing the venue might cause logistic problems and could lead to a change of judges as well. There would also be considerations for proceedings taking place in federal court involving Danglben around the same time, she said.
Pretrial hearings in the Phipps case, playing out in District Court, have seen lawyers for the U.S. Justice Department demand that Dangleben face the death penalty. Federal Public Defender Matthew Campbell successfully argued against it; federal prosecutors have, in recent days, turned to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for reinstatement.
Those considerations led the judge in the Jennings case to pause the proceedings; Francois said she would lay out the merits in a written opinion to be issued soon. “Given the parallel proceedings in District Court, I am going to reschedule jury selection and trial in this case to sometime next year,” Francois said.
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