A Superior Court judge has vacated the conviction of Charles Frazer Jr., who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in April 2023 after pleading guilty to unauthorized firearm possession.
Frazer's case stemmed from two separate incidents on St. Croix: a drive-by shooting at the Fish Market on December 22, 2020, and a March 2021 incident in which he allegedly fired at a police detective during a search warrant execution at his residence. He agreed to plead guilty to the firearm charge in January 2023, with all other counts dismissed.
Attorney Quincy McRae sought to undo the plea in September 2024, contending that Frazer had not received adequate warning about the mandatory 10-year sentence attached to his conviction. After McRae withdrew from the case in April, the Office of Conflict Counsel assumed representation.
On July 28, Judge Venetia Velazquez ruled in Frazer's favour. She determined that the sentencing judge had given him faulty guidance, telling him the penalty was "a maximum" rather than a mandatory minimum, which Velazquez said was "at best, the Court's advice was vague. At worst, the advice misdirected the Defendant in believing that his full potential exposure was 10 years incarceration."
Velazquez also found that Frazer's original attorney read only portions of the plea agreement during the hearing, leaving out the section addressing punishment. Combined with the court's misstatement about sentencing exposure, these lapses meant Frazer could not have entered his plea with full knowledge of the consequences.
The judge concluded the plea was neither knowing nor voluntary and vacated the judgment. Frazer is due back in court on September 30.
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