DISTRICT COURT OF THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 
DIVISION OF ST. THOMAS AND ST. JOHN 
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
Plaintiff, 
v. 
CARLOS DE LA ROSA, RAFAEL MARTINEZ, 
ELVIS MANUEL RODRIGUEZ, AND ALEXIS 
SANCHEZ GARCIA, 
Defendants. 
 
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Case No. 3:21-cr-0020 
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ORDER 
 
BEFORE THE COURT is the joint motion of the United States, Defendant Rafael 
Martinez, Defendant Elvis Manuel Rodriguez, and Defendant Alexis Sanchez Garcia to 
continue the jury selection and trial in this matter, currently scheduled for August 22, 2022. 
(ECF No. 65.) Also before the Court is Defendant Martinez’s motion to continue. (ECF No. 62.) 
For the reasons stated herein, the Court will grant these motions. The time to try this case is 
extended up to and including September 26, 2022.  
 
On August 15, 2022, the United States filed the instant joint motion to continue. The 
United States avers that, although plea agreements have been extended to all defendants, 
defendants have not been able to meet with their counsel due to the quarantine protocols 
associated with an ongoing COVID-19 outbreak at MDC Guaynabo. (ECF No. 65 at 1.) The 
United States avers that they are confident that the matter can be resolved short of trial once 
counsel regains access to their clients. Id. at 2. Pursuant to LRCi 5.4(h)(3), the United States 
consulted with Defendants Martinez, Rodriguez, and Garcia who “requested to join in the 
motion to continue and further consented to said motion being filed on their behalf.” Id.  
 
Defendant Martinez filed his motion to continue on August 4, 2022, in which he 
asserts that he had not been able to meet with counsel due to the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak 
at MDC Guaynabo. (ECF No. 62 at 1.) Defendant Martinez similarly request a continuance of 
at least thirty days to meet with counsel, discuss plea negotiations, and prepare for trial. Id. 
at 1. The United States and Defendant Carlos De La Rosa filed notices of no objection to 
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United States v. De La Rosa et al.  
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Defendant Martinez’ motion to continue on August 5, 2022, and August 12, 2022, 
respectively. (ECF Nos. 63 and 64.)1 
While the Speedy Trial Act requires that defendants be tried within seventy days of 
indictment, the Court specifically finds that extending this period would be in the best 
interest of justice. Here, an extension is necessary in order to allow defendants to meet with 
counsel, and to allow defendants to participate in plea negotiations with the United States.  
Consistent with this concern, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 
has recognized that "whether or not a case is 'unusual' or 'complex,' an 'ends of justice' 
continuance may in appropriate circumstances be granted." United States v. Fields, 39 F.3d 
439, 444 (3d Cir. 1994) (finding that the district court had properly granted an “ends of 
justice” continuance to “permit plea negotiations to continue”); cf. United States v. Dota, 33 
F.3d 1179 (9th Cir. 1994) ("An ends of justice continuance may be justified on grounds that 
one side needs more time to prepare for trial [even if the] case [i]s not 'complex.'"); United 
States v. Lattany, 982 F.2d 866, 883 (3d Cir. 1992) ("[T]he district court did not abuse its 
discretion when it delayed the trial to give counsel . . . opportunity to . . . decid[e] upon and 
prepar[e] an appropriate defense."); see also 18 U.S.C. § 3161(h)(7)(B)(iv) (when performing 
an “ends of justice” analysis, courts should consider “[w]hether the failure to grant such a 
continuance in a case which, taken as a whole, is not so unusual or so complex would deny 
counsel for the defendant or the attorney for the Government the reasonable time necessary 
for effective preparation . . . ”).  
The premises considered, it is hereby 
ORDERED that United States’ Joint Motion to Continue August 22, 2022 Jury Trial, 
ECF No. 65, is GRANTED; it is further 
ORDERED that Defendant Martinez’s motion to continue, ECF No. 62, is GRANTED; 
it is further 
 
1 Defendant Martinez’s motion states that counsel for Defendant Garcia objected to the continuance. (ECF No. 
62 at 2.) Based on Defendant Garcia’s request to join the United States’ motion to continue filed on August 15, 
2022, the Court will disregard that objection.  
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ORDERED that the time beginning from the date of this order granting an extension 
through September 26, 2022, SHALL be excluded in computing the time within which the 
trial in this matter must be initiated pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 3161; it is further 
ORDERED that the parties SHALL file and serve a pre-trial brief no later than 
September 19, 2022, which shall include the following: (a) proposed list of witnesses; (b) 
proposed list of exhibits; (c) estimated length of case-in-chief and case-in-defense; (d) 
proposed non-standard voir dire questions; and (e) proposed non-standard jury instructions 
related to the elements of the charges and defenses; it is further 
ORDERED that the parties SHALL provide the Clerk of Court with a USB Flash Drive 
containing electronic versions of exhibits no later than September 21, 2022;2 and it is further 
ORDERED that the Jury Selection and Trial previously scheduled for August 22, 2022, 
is hereby CONTINUED to commence promptly at 9:00 a.m. on September 26, 2022, in St. 
Thomas Courtroom 1. 
 
Dated: August 16, 2022 
 
/s/Robert A. Molloy  
 
 
 
  
 
 
 
 
ROBERT A. MOLLOY 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chief Judge 
 
 
2 Counsel are advised to consult with Court technical staff to determine the proper format for saving electronic 
versions of exhibits. The Government’s trial exhibits shall be labelled sequentially beginning with 
Government’s Exhibit 1. Defense exhibits shall be labelled sequentially beginning with Defense Exhibit A. 
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