CHRISTIANSTED — A St. Croix man who terrorized a couple at gunpoint in 2017 was resentenced, after an appellate court agreed that prosecutors breached their plea agreement and failed to recommend he receive a prison sentence at the “low end” of the federal guideline range.
Luis Davis, 36, was arrested for his role in the three-man home invasion, during which the men assaulted and threatened to kill the couple before driving them to retrieve cash from a nearby farm. When they were done, they stripped the victims naked and drove off in their Jeep, leaving them stranded, according to the opinion filed by the Third Circuit on June 27.
Davis pleaded guilty to brandishing a firearm during a violent crime, carjacking, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to recommend the seven-year statutory minimum sentence for brandishing a firearm, and a consecutive sentence at the “low end” of the federal sentencing guidelines for other two charges, calculated at 87 to 108 months in prison.
Davis’s defense attorney offered mitigating evidence of Davis’s abusive childhood, intellectual disabilities, drug addiction, and other factors, and prosecutors “recounted in detail Davis’s crime and his cruelty” toward the victims,” according to the opinion.
The appellate judges found that prosecutors “violated the plea agreement by repeatedly underscoring the reprehensibility of Davis’s conduct” at sentencing, and cited similar cases.
The prosecutor at Davis’s sentencing recounted “the victims’ harrowing ordeal in great detail, including the assault, threats, and humiliation; the demise of the couple’s relationship; the lingering feelings of anger, fear, and resentment; and the loss of security.”
The 3rd Circuit opinion noted that, “Statements like these are typically fair game in most sentencing hearings. But where, as here, the Government has agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the Guidelines range, its allocution must align with that recommendation. The Government’s vivid recapitulation of Davis’s crime and the victims’ plight supported a harsh, not a lenient, sentence.”
The judges found that the government breached its plea agreement, and vacated Davis’s sentence and remanded the case to the District Court for resentencing.
“Though “the need for resentencing was caused by the government and is not attributable to any error by the sentencing judge,” we will remand to a different district judge for resentencing,” according to the opinion. “In doing so, we leave to the District Court’s discretion the imposition of a just sentence.”
United States Attorney Delia Smith said Friday that Davis was sentenced to 171 months in prison
following his guilty plea to carjacking, using a firearm during a violent crime and felon in
possession of a firearm. Davis, who was convicted of first-degree assault in Virgin Islands Superior
Court in 2011, was also ordered by Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Molloy to serve five years of supervised release, pay a special assessment of $300.00, and pay restitution in the amount of $1,600.00.
According to court documents, on September 10, 2017, Davis, along with Joel Rivera and
Chriss Cepeda, broke into a couple’s home in Estate Rust Op Twist while brandishing a firearm.
The defendants physically assaulted the male victim by beating him in the head and threatened to
kill the couple while demanding money.
The defendants then forced the couple by gunpoint into the rear passenger seat of their Toyota Tacoma truck and drove them to shoreline where the male victim had left his wallet.
After retrieving the wallet, the defendants fled in the victims’ truck and Jeep Wrangler.
In addition to the vehicles, the defendants stole two iPhones valued at $1,200.00, $200.00 cash, and an iPad valued at $200.00.
In January 2022, Cepeda was sentenced to 164 months in prison, and Rivera was sentenced to 150 months in prison in February 2023, following their guilty pleas to carjacking and using a firearm during a violent crime.
This case was investigated by the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD) and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel H. Huston.
This case is part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods Initiative. Project Safe
Neighborhoods is a nationwide initiative that brings together federal, state, local and tribal law
enforcement officials, prosecutors, and community leaders to identify the most pressing violent
crime problems in a community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. For more
information on the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, please see:
https://www.justice.gov/psn
The VIRGIN ISLANDS DAILY NEWS contributed to this report.