The District Court of the Virgin Islands is unlike any other court in the Third Circuit — and most defendants who appear there never learn why until it matters. It is a territorial court created by Congress under 48 U.S.C. § 1611 rather than under Article III of the Constitution: its two judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for ten-year terms, not for life, and judges from across the federal system regularly sit on its cases by designation. Yet the prosecutions it hears are fully federal, carrying federal sentences, with appeals to the Third Circuit in Philadelphia — some 1,600 miles from the courtrooms in Charlotte Amalie and Golden Rock.
Below, we explain what makes this court structurally different, where it sits on St. Thomas and St. Croix, who prosecutes there and what the docket actually looks like, and how we defend clients in the territory. Elizabeth Franklin-Best, P.C. practices federal criminal defense, appeals, and post-conviction litigation nationwide. Among Elizabeth’s credentials: Best Lawyers in America 2026 recognition as a “Best Lawyer” in Appellate Practice, and a 2026 Chambers USA ranking for Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations — the two fields a Virgin Islands federal case is most likely to demand. This page belongs to our federal courts directory.
If a federal case in the territory is touching your life — an investigation, an indictment, or a sentence already imposed — a paid, one-hour initial consultation with us will give you a clear-eyed map of where things stand.
Table of Contents
Quick Answer: District of the Virgin Islands
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What court handles federal cases in the U.S. Virgin Islands? | The District Court of the Virgin Islands — a territorial court under 48 U.S.C. § 1611, with divisions on St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix. |
| How is it different from other district courts? | Its two judges serve ten-year terms under Article IV of the Constitution rather than holding life tenure; visiting federal judges also sit by designation, and cases may be charged by indictment or by information under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(b). |
| Who prosecutes federal cases there? | The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands, under U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper, with offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix. |
| Which circuit hears appeals? | The Third Circuit — the same court that reviews Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware reviews Virgin Islands federal judgments. |
| Where are post-conviction motions filed? | A Section 2255 motion attacking a Virgin Islands federal conviction is filed in this same court, the court of conviction. |
| Can the firm appear in the District of the Virgin Islands? | Yes — through pro hac vice admission under the court’s local rules, the standard route for experienced mainland federal counsel. |
Key Takeaways
- The District Court of the Virgin Islands is a territorial court established under 48 U.S.C. § 1611 — its judges sit under Article IV, on ten-year presidential appointments, not with Article III life tenure.
- The court sits in two divisions: St. Thomas/St. John, at the Ron de Lugo Federal Building in Charlotte Amalie, and St. Croix, at the Almeric L. Christian Federal Building at Golden Rock.
- As of mid-2026, Chief Judge Robert A. Molloy leads the court, and visiting judges from mainland districts routinely hear Virgin Islands cases by designation under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(a).
- Federal prosecutions are brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands, led by U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper.
- In FY2024, drug trafficking made up 62.9 percent of the district’s 97 sentencings — including interdiction cases at the islands’ airports and ports of entry — with fraud and immigration cases at 9.3 percent each.
- 8.2 percent of the district’s FY2024 cases were resolved at trial, nearly three times the 2.8 percent national rate and the highest share in the Third Circuit.
- The territory’s economic-development tax-incentive program has generated federal fraud and tax prosecutions over the years, a risk area for the islands’ financial-services sector.
- Appeals go to the Third Circuit in Philadelphia; § 2255 motions return to the district. We handle Virgin Islands matters at every one of those stages through pro hac vice admission.
The District of the Virgin Islands at a Glance
The District Court of the Virgin Islands serves the entire territory from two divisions. The St. Thomas/St. John division sits at the Ron de Lugo Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse on Veterans Drive in Charlotte Amalie; the St. Croix division sits at the Almeric L. Christian Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at Estate Golden Rock. Where a case is heard matters practically here — the islands are separated by open water, and counsel must be ready to appear in either division.
The bench is the page’s headline structural fact. Under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(a), the President appoints — and the Senate confirms — two judges for the court, who serve ten-year terms “and until their successors are chosen and qualified,” subject to removal by the President for cause. That is Article IV territorial-court tenure, not the lifetime tenure of an Article III judge. As of mid-2026, Chief Judge Robert A. Molloy leads the court. The same statute supplies the court’s distinctive staffing valve: the chief judge of the Third Circuit may assign Virgin Islands local-court judges, circuit or district judges of the Third Circuit, or recalled senior judges to sit temporarily — and the Chief Justice of the United States may assign any other federal circuit or district judge. Visiting mainland judges presiding over Virgin Islands criminal cases are a regular feature of practice here, not an anomaly.
Day to day, the court runs on the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and its own local rules, and federal prosecutions are brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands — led by U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper, with offices on both St. Thomas and St. Croix. One procedural wrinkle worth knowing from 48 U.S.C. § 1614(b): criminal prosecutions in this court may proceed by grand jury indictment or by information, and prosecutions under the territory’s mirror income-tax laws can be brought by the Virgin Islands Attorney General. Appeals go to the Third Circuit — the same court that reviews the Middle and Western Districts of Pennsylvania.
Federal Criminal Cases in the District
The territory’s docket reflects its geography. Of the 97 individuals sentenced here in fiscal year 2024, 62.9 percent were drug-trafficking cases — the islands sit on Caribbean smuggling routes, and recent prosecutions include traveler and airport-employee arrests with kilogram-quantity seizures at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas. Fraud, theft, and embezzlement and immigration cases followed at 9.3 percent each, with firearms at 6.2 percent.
Case mechanics track the mainland model with territorial twists. An investigation — announced perhaps by a target letter or grand jury subpoena — leads to charges, which here may come by indictment or, in defined circumstances, by information. The initial appearance and arraignment happen before a magistrate judge in the division where the case is filed; pretrial motions and discovery follow; and the case ends in a plea agreement, a trial, or a dismissal, with sentencing under the Guidelines after any conviction. Our federal criminal process hub covers every stage.
And unlike almost everywhere else in the Third Circuit, trials actually happen here. In FY2024, 8.2 percent of the district’s cases were resolved by trial — the circuit’s highest share and nearly three times the national rate. A small docket, serious charges, and juries drawn from tight-knit island communities make trial a genuine option in this district, and the defense must be built from day one as if the case will be tried.
Applied Insight: In a two-division island district with one of the highest federal trial rates in the country, credibility is currency. The prosecutors, the judges, and the jury pools are small worlds; a defense that is precise, candid, and prepared from the first appearance carries disproportionate weight here compared with a high-volume mainland district.
White-Collar Exposure in the Islands: EDC Incentives and the Mirror Tax Code
The Virgin Islands occupies an unusual corner of American tax law. The territory administers its own “mirror” income-tax system, and its economic-development incentive program has for decades offered substantial tax benefits to draw financial-services firms, fund managers, and investors to the islands. Congress acknowledged that structure in the court’s own organic statute: under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(b), prosecutions arising under the income-tax laws applicable to the Virgin Islands may be conducted by the Virgin Islands Attorney General rather than the United States Attorney.
Where incentives flow, prosecutions follow. The Justice Department has publicly charged promoters with fraudulently exploiting the territory’s economic-development program in multi-million-dollar tax schemes, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has obtained prison sentences in territorial tax-fraud conspiracies. These cases tend to be fact-heavy contests over whether residency, employment, and income-sourcing requirements attached to the benefits were genuinely satisfied — exactly the kind of dispute where aggressive early white-collar defense work, before charging decisions harden, matters most.
For anyone in the islands’ financial-services or investment community who receives a subpoena, an audit referral, or a target letter touching EDC benefits or territorial tax filings, the right response is neither panic nor delay: these investigations move slowly, span agencies on the mainland and in the territory, and reward defendants whose counsel engages the documents early.
Appeals and Post-Conviction Matters
Although the court itself is an Article IV territorial court, its criminal judgments are reviewed exactly like any mainland district court’s: by the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, on the same fourteen-day notice-of-appeal clock that runs from entry of judgment. Distance is no excuse and no barrier — the briefing is electronic, and argument, when granted, is a flight away. Given this district’s unusually high trial rate, a meaningful share of its appeals raise true trial issues: evidentiary rulings, jury instructions, and sufficiency challenges, alongside the Guidelines disputes every circuit sees.
Post-conviction litigation has a distinctly Virgin Islands dimension. A § 2255 motion attacking a Virgin Islands federal conviction is filed back in this court — but the person filing it is usually far away, because the Bureau of Prisons operates no institution in the territory and people sentenced here serve their federal time at mainland facilities, often a thousand miles or more from family. That separation can bear on compassionate release advocacy (where, after the Supreme Court’s 2026 decision in Rutherford, motions must rest on genuinely extraordinary and compelling circumstances) and makes mainland-based post-conviction counsel a natural fit. This work — the record, the law, the writing — is our firm’s center of gravity, wherever the client is held. The realistic odds underscore why case selection matters: in fiscal year 2025 the Sentencing Commission reported federal courts granting 14.1 percent of compassionate-release motions nationwide (394 of 2,795 decided), and roughly 13 percent of the 95 motions decided across the Third Circuit, which reviews Virgin Islands cases.
How the Firm Practices in This Court
Mainland counsel appearing in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is a long tradition, and the court’s local rules provide the standard pathway: pro hac vice admission for a qualified attorney who is not a member of the court’s bar, granted case by case on motion. In a territory whose own criminal-defense bar is small and whose docket includes complex federal matters, that pathway exists precisely so defendants can bring in the experience their case requires.
Think about who already sits in these courtrooms: under § 1614(a), the judge presiding over a Virgin Islands trial may be a designated district judge from Pennsylvania or elsewhere in the federal system. The substantive law — Title 18, the Federal Rules, the Sentencing Guidelines, Third Circuit precedent — is precisely the law a national federal practice lives in daily. What out-of-district counsel must supply is respect for the territory’s particulars: two divisions separated by water, island logistics, local rules, and juries whose communities are unlike any mainland venire.
For a Virgin Islands federal defendant, the highest-value question is whether counsel can carry the case wherever it goes — through a Charlotte Amalie or Golden Rock courtroom, up to Philadelphia, and into the post-conviction phase years later. Elizabeth Franklin-Best is admitted before the U.S. Supreme Court and all twelve federal circuits, including the Third, and literally wrote the book on overturning federal convictions — Reversing Your Criminal Conviction. Her record spans more than 330 federal proceedings, including over 100 appeals, and pro hac vice appearances in district courts from Montana to Florida. We make no predictions and no promises about results; what we offer the islands is the same complete federal practice we bring to every district.
Frequently Asked Questions
What court handles federal criminal cases in the U.S. Virgin Islands?
The District Court of the Virgin Islands, a territorial court Congress established under 48 U.S.C. § 1611. It sits in two divisions: St. Thomas/St. John, at the Ron de Lugo Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Charlotte Amalie, and St. Croix, at the Almeric L. Christian Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse at Estate Golden Rock.
Is the District Court of the Virgin Islands an Article III court?
No. It is a territorial court created under Congress’s Article IV power over the territories. Its two judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate for ten-year terms — not for life — and may be removed by the President for cause. For defendants, the practical experience is nearly identical to any federal district court: the same crimes, rules, Guidelines, and Third Circuit review.
Who prosecutes federal crimes in the District of the Virgin Islands?
The United States Attorney’s Office for the District of the Virgin Islands, led as of mid-2026 by U.S. Attorney Adam Sleeper, with offices on St. Thomas and St. Croix. One territorial quirk: prosecutions under the Virgin Islands’ mirror income-tax laws may be handled by the Virgin Islands Attorney General under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(b).
Who are the judges of the District Court of the Virgin Islands?
Congress provides for two presidentially appointed judges serving ten-year terms; as of mid-2026 the court is led by Chief Judge Robert A. Molloy, with magistrate judges serving both divisions. Visiting circuit and district judges from the mainland also regularly preside by designation under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(a), so the judge on a given case may come from anywhere in the federal system.
Which appeals court covers the District of the Virgin Islands?
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia — the same court that hears appeals from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. A criminal notice of appeal generally must be filed within fourteen days of the entry of judgment, and the distance between the islands and Philadelphia changes nothing about that deadline.
How does a federal criminal case proceed in the District of the Virgin Islands?
Investigation, then charging — which in this district may be by grand jury indictment or, in defined circumstances, by information under 48 U.S.C. § 1614(b). A magistrate judge conducts the initial appearance and arraignment in the division where the case is filed, pretrial motions and discovery follow, and the case resolves by plea or trial, with Guidelines sentencing after conviction.
How often do federal cases in the Virgin Islands go to trial?
At one of the highest rates in the country. In fiscal year 2024, 8.2 percent of the district’s 97 sentenced cases followed a trial — nearly three times the 2.8 percent national figure and the highest share in the Third Circuit. Defendants here should retain counsel who prepares every case as if a jury will decide it.
Can an out-of-state lawyer represent me in the District of the Virgin Islands?
Yes. The court’s local rules allow qualified mainland attorneys to appear in a specific case through pro hac vice admission, and given the size of the territory’s defense bar, bringing in outside federal counsel is common. Even the judges sometimes come from other districts by designation — the law being applied is the same national federal law.
Does the firm handle federal cases in the District of the Virgin Islands?
Yes. We take Virgin Islands federal matters at the trial level in either division, on appeal to the Third Circuit, and in post-conviction litigation — including § 2255 motions and compassionate release for clients serving territorial sentences at mainland federal facilities. The first step is a paid, one-hour initial consultation to review your situation in detail.
Talk With a Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer
A federal charge in the Virgin Islands puts a person inside a court system most lawyers never encounter — territorial in structure, federal in consequence, an ocean away from the circuit that will review it. We know that system. Reserve a paid, one-hour initial consultation and we will lay out, plainly, what your case looks like from where we sit.