S. Ct. Crim. No. 2015-0062

In a case charging the defendant with acting as an accessory after the fact under 14 V.I.C. § 12(a), in which she ultimately agreed to plead guilty to one count, the Superior Court did not violate her rights under the Confrontation Clause or commit plain error when it sentenced her under 5 V.I.C. § 3721. Although it is now held that she is eligible for split sentencing under that statute, the Superior Court did not commit plain error in concluding that she was ineligible because there was no clear interpretation of the split sentencing statute to guide the court. That portion of the July 6, 2015 judgment that sentences the defendant is vacated, and the matter is remanded remand with instructions that she be resentenced in accordance with Virgin Islands law and this opinion, because the court committed plain error when it relied on this defendant's religion to impose a harsher sentence, and it is unclear whether the court would have imposed the same sentence absent its reliance on this impermissible factor.