By Steve Sherman, Bucks Local News

Two years after his death in the Carribean, New Hope native Jamie Cockayne's family members are still searching for the killer...and for justice

Search the Internet for US Virgin Islands vacations and you’ll more than likely stumble upon USVI.net, a Web site dedicated to attracting tourists to what the site phrases “America’s Caribbean Paradise.”

The words on the Web page proclaim the islands serve up delightful helpings of “sun, fun and lasting memories.”

According to the Cockayne family, the “lasting memories” part is definitely true.

But their journey is no paradise, as the lasting memory they have of Virgin Islands is that of the death of their son Jamie, 21, of New Hope who was stabbed to death two years ago in June after an argument with a few locals at an island nightspot.

The family is still seeking justice for their son’s killing two years later. While three men have been arrested in connection with the crime, not one has been sentenced and only one of the defendants is incarcerated. The others are under house arrest.

“I’m discouraged,” said Jamie’s mother Jeanie Cockayne. “I’m afraid no one is going to pay for my son’s murder.”

Now, it seems Jahlil Ward, the man who was convicted in connection with the crime, could be granted a new trial.

He’s pointing the finger at one of two other defendants who were acquitted of murder and convicted instead on an assault charge.

But neither of those defendants, Anselmo Boston, a 32-year-old St. Croix native, nor Kamal Thomas, a 21-year-old Atlanta, Ga. native, can be retried in connection with the murder because of constitutional protections against double jeopardy.

“Because of this new evidence, there’s a possibility [Ward] may get off because of the way the trial was conducted by the prosecution and nobody will pay,” stated Jeanie Cockayne.

After a 16-month battle to bring their son’s killers to justice, the Cockayne family thought they had gained at least some satisfaction last October when Ward, was convicted of first degree murder and the others convicted on two charges of third degree assault and two counts of using a dangerous weapon.

But the memory turned into a horrific nightmare in November when Justice Brenda J. Hollar tossed out one of the assault and weapons charges for Boston and Thomas.

Things took another turn for the worse in January when the presiding judge considered a defense motion by Michael Quinn, attorney for Ward, the lone defendant convicted of murder in the case. In an effort to save his client from a lifetime behind bars, Quinn filed a motion for a new trial, saying he has witnesses who will testify that Thomas confessed to the killing on more than one occasion.

Those witnesses came to a St. Thomas court room April 17, all proclaiming they heard Thomas say he “killed a white boy” on the night in question.

First, witness Donald Lee testified that he had a conversation in February 2008 with Thomas outside a St. Thomas motel saying he committed the killing.

Lee says he met Ward recently in prison where Lee is also incarcerated pending the outcome of an unrelated statutory rape case.

The court then heard from Neal Sprauve Jr., who testified that he saw Thomas running down the hill nearby the Front Yard bar - the site of an alleged argument between Cockayne and Boston.

According to court documents, two days later, when he again saw Thomas at a Cruz Bay beach, Sprauve asked him why he was running down the hill.

“He said ‘I was involved in a stabbing and I did it, so you got to hold it down,’” Sprauve claimed.

Sprauve is a third cousin to Ward who was in jail at the time of his testimony serving time for unrelated charges of possession of stolen property.

Also at the April hearing, Quinn asked for a new trial for Ward, asserting that the prosecution never divulged a witness they discovered who would have delivered evidence favorable to his client. According to Quinn, Daryl Martens shared a jail cell adjacent to Thomas.

Martens claimed that on or about Sept. 12, 2007, from that vantage point, he heard Thomas admit to stabbing Cockayne multiple times.

A peculiar twist in Quinn’s testimony, according to Jeanie Cockayne, is that Martens first approached her in September 2007 with reports of Thomas’ alleged jailhouse confession.

The Cockayne’s say they went so far as to arrange a meeting between prosecutors and Martens, however, no statement by Martens was ever recorded by anyone affiliated with the Virgin Islands judicial system.

Prosecutor Renee Gumbs Carty called the creditability of Lee and Sprauve into question, presenting testimony from a Virgin Islands court marshal who says there’s no way Thomas was in the vicinity of where Lee says he made the alleged confession.

According to testimony presented by USVI Superior Court Marshal Rodney Arthurton, who heads electronic monitoring services, Thomas was no longer residing at La Petit Motel in Charlotte Amalie where Lee claims to have had the February 2008 conversation with the defendant. Arthurton stated that Thomas had moved to another location in December 2007 and had been there until August 2008.

Hollar has taken the matter under advisement.

Meanwhile, the Cockaynes continue to sit and wait for her decision, regardless, this much they know: Because of double jeopardy, neither Thomas nor Boston can ever be tried for Jamie’s murder.

There was a time when Jamie’s parents considered St. John a Caribbean paradise. After all, it was the place they met, where they decided to get married and the island where they shared their first home.

The Cockayne’s know better now.

According to Barbara Alba, a Yardley resident who has acted as a spokesperson for the family, they remain committed to exposing what they say is a frightening level of crime in the territory and a lack of protection from either the police or the criminal justice system.

“Right from the beginning, we knew that the police were not investigating Jamie’s murder,” said Jeanie. “I stand by that statement today.”

NOTE: In 2007, 46 people were killed in the Virgin Islands when homicides reached a record level. According to a Jan. 16, 2008 report in The Virgin Island Daily News, the territory’s homicide rate is 44 per 100,000 residents, compared with the U.S. national rate of 5.5 per 100,000, making it “one of the most violent places under the American flag.”

* VIDN - Jan. 16, 2008; Joseph Tsidulko