Jimmy Davis arrested again after setting fire in jail cell

Davis is in jail awaiting trial on charges that he raped a 15-year-old girl on April 3, 2020, just days after his release from federal prison for drug and assault convictions.

He has a long criminal record, and a long history of causing chaos for court officials and lawyers assigned to represent him.

In the rape case, Judge Douglas Brady assigned private attorney Shari D’Andrade to serve as defense counsel on Feb. 10. The following day, D’Andrade filed a motion asking to be relieved from the appointment out of concern for her personal safety.

D’Andrade wrote in an affirmation that from 2014 to 2019 she served as assistant V.I. attorney general, and later transitioned to general counsel for the Bureau of Corrections.

“During Jimmy Davis’ incarceration at BOC for another criminal matter, and while he and I were present in the Alexander A. Farrelly Complex, the Defendant yelled that he would physically harm me, yelled expletives, and made threatening gestures. Consequently, a BOC officer had to intervene,” D’Andrade wrote. “Because of that incident, and Defendant’s violent nature, specially trained corrections officers closely guarded me when I toured a housing unit in which the Defendant was housed.”

Brady granted the motion Monday.

Without an attorney, it remains unclear when Davis might go to trial.

In the meantime, Davis has been wreaking havoc for guards assigned to his unit, according to an affidavit filed Friday by a lieutenant with the V.I. Bureau of Corrections.

At around 6:25 p.m. on Jan. 28, officers responded to smoke coming from Davis’s cell door, as he yelled that “now ahyou got to” move him to another area of the jail as he’d been demanding, according to the affidavit.

When officers opened the cell door they saw “flames and smoke coming from a pile of magazines and a red Bureau of Corrections Inmate issued uniform that was set ablaze,” according to the affidavit.

Officers doused the fire with a bucket of water and put Davis in restraints.

“Davis then continued bragging to the undersigned and other officers present about setting the fire and stating that he will continue to do so until he is moved to another cluster,” according to the affidavit.

Officers moved the other inmates to the recreation grounds to get them away from the smoke, and Assistant Director Everett Hansen inspected the damage and ordered Davis to be strip searched in his cell, according to the affidavit.

During the search, a small red Bic lighter “fell out from between his legs,” according to the affidavit. “Inmate Davis was then taken to the ground for a further search and a knife blade which was approximately two inches long wrapped in white cloth like material was observed protruding from his anus. The knife was removed by the undersigned and held for evidence along with the lighter.”

The affidavit does not say whether officers determined the source of the contraband.

Davis was charged with first-degree arson, destruction of property, disturbance of the peace, reckless endangerment, promoting prison contraband, promoting dangerous prison contraband, institutional vandalism, third-degree assault, and aggravated assault and battery.

He appeared in court via video conference for his advice-of-rights hearing Friday, and refused to be represented by the Territorial Public Defender’s Office.

Magistrate Judge Paula Norkaitis contacted private attorney Carl Williams, who agreed to step in as appointed counsel. After conferring with Davis, Williams requested that Norkaitis recuse herself because up until her recent appointment to the bench, she had served as a public defender.

Norkaitis agreed to recuse herself and said the case would be assigned to a St. Croix magistrate.