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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCALLAN STILL SEEKING JUSTICE

CALLAN STILL SEEKING JUSTICE

Five years after his father was shot to death in a robbery, Glenn Callan says incompetence on the part of the V.I. government has failed to bring his father's killers to justice.
"Many cases have not reached a conviction status and most of them have not even gone to trial because the government does not want to take them to trial, either because of incompetence or because they are afraid to lose," he said.
Melvin Belleau, 23, appeared in Territorial Court on Wednesday for a hearing. He is charged with two counts of attempted robbery and one count of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Assistant Attorney General Rosalind A. Kelly has filed a motion to reinstate first-degree murder charges initially filed against Belleau, but later dropped by Assistant Attorney General Douglas Dick, who had been prosecuting the case, in an attempt to reach a plea agreement.
"We are just trying to put the government back in the position it was in," she said.
Belleau is one of two men who were arrested after California swimming-school owner Murray Callan was shot to death as he walked past Paul M. Pearson Gardens on April 10, 1994.
The other man involved was released from Anna's Hope Youth Rehabilitation Center in St. Croix in September 1997 after serving three years. He was 15 when the crime took place.
Belleau, accused of being an accomplice, had his trial delayed as the courts attempted to determine whether he should be tried as a juvenile or adult. He was 17 when Callan was murdered.
The men attempted to rob Callan, 69, and then shot him as he walked to Blockbuster Video.
After his father was killed, Glenn Callan alerted the national media and stories about the murder appeared on television broadcasts across the country.
"They want your tourist dollar but they don't tell you what you are getting into if you come down here," he said. "There is a good chance you are going to get murdered or raped and on top of that, nobody wants to prosecute."
Callan said he is not demanding a conviction but is only asking that some type of effort be made to seek justice.
"What I am saying is you give it the best shot you can. The sin is not trying at all," he said. "Douglas Dick and former Attorney General Julio Brady are just as guilty as the two kids who killed my father."
Callan recently met with Gov. Charles W. Turnbull and acting Attorney General Iver Stridiron to discuss his father's case and his frustration with the V.I. Justice Department's failure to bring cases to trial.
"It was a very positive meeting and I think the governor wanted to see this thing pushed through and I think Stridiron did too," he said.
Stridiron could not be reached for comment.
During Wednesday's hearing, Pedro Williams, who is representing Belleau, asked that some of the conditions of his release be relaxed, such as the removal of an electronic monitoring device. Belleau has been on house arrest since January 1998.
Kelly said Belleau is a threat to the community and should remain on electronic monitoring.
"He has proven that he is not a danger to the community," said Williams, adding that Belleau has diligently attended school since his arrest without incident.

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