Nov. 30, 2004 – In what was called a last-minute deal, two men who had been charged with murder in the July death of Marvin Augustin, 21, pleaded guilty to assault charges Monday at Territorial Court. Darnel Harvey, 18, of Constitutional Hill, and Alex Prentice, 21, had been arrested the week after the shooting in front of the Moonraker Bar on Queen Cross Street. The shooting and a preceding fight had been captured on videotape.
According to reports in the St. Croix Avis and the Virgin Islands Daily News, a jury trial was minutes away from beginning when the deal was offered by prosecutors to the pair and they accepted it.
Raheed Teague, 21, of Bassin Triangle, had pleaded guilty to a second degree murder charge on Nov. 18. In his testimony, according to the Daily News, he admitted shooting Augustin after being kicked by him.
All three men are scheduled for sentencing on Jan 14. Harvey and Prentice could face a maximum of five years in prison and a $3,000 fine.
The Avis said that both men had been free on bond, but taken into custody and placed in the Golden Grove Correctional Facility after the deal. The Daily News said Harvey had been free on bail, but Prentice had not.
Both newspapers gave accounts by the prisoners of what happened the night of July 11.
An argument broke out between Harvey and Neano Richardson. No one mentioned over what. But the argument escalated into a fight and it engulfed others reportedly "chillin'" outside the bar, and then a gun was pulled.
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