Case Caption: Gary Simmonds vs. People of the Virgin Islands Case Number: SCT-CRIM-2021-0009Date: 06/01/2022Author: Hodge, Rhys S. Citation: 2022 VI 12Summary: In 2005, the Appellate Division of the United States District Court had jurisdiction over the defendant’s initial appeal of a conviction for aggravated assault and battery under 14 V.I.C. § 298(5). After extended federal proceedings, including appeals and a prior remand, the Appellate Division terminated its retained appellate jurisdiction on April 3, 2020 by ordering a remand of this case to the Superior Court for sentencing, directing imposition of a conviction and sentence for the lesser-included offense of simple assault and battery. The Superior Court entered an amended judgment on March 17, 2021, and the defendant’s current appeal properly invokes this Court’s appellate jurisdiction to review that judgment. However, the arguments raised by the defendant on the present appeal are the same ones he raised in the appeal to the Appellate Division, which were conclusively adjudicated by that court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on direct appeal. The law of the case doctrine is therefore applicable here, and reconsideration will not be undertaken on issues which have been adjudicated in a previous appeal in this same case. The defendant’s right to appeal the Superior Court’s amended judgment to this Court does not mean that he has another chance to re-argue the same issues he presented to the Appellate Division in his first appeal and that were already addressed by that tribunal. Rather, the sole issue that remained available to him in this appeal was the length of his sentence, but he failed to raise any issue with regard to his sentence, and thus waived its review. His conviction for simple assault and battery pursuant to 14 V.I.C. § 299 under the amended judgment of March 17, 2021 is therefore affirmedAttachment: Open Document or Opinion