A New York man who beat a murder rap in the British Virgin Islands last year, only to see the charge reinstated in January, has been ordered to appear March 22 in the same courtroom where his childhood friend was sentenced to life in prison for the crime.

Alexander Benedetto, the 36-year-old son of a New York book publisher, was re-indicted for the January 2000 killing of his former girlfriend last week and could face arrest when he steps foot again on the beautiful eastern Caribbean island where he was held for 16 months.

"His obligation is to appear on the 22nd and he has been advised of that," said Paul Dennis, Benedetto's attorney on the island of Tortola.

Benedetto could not be reached for comment Wednesday and he has not returned calls since he and co-defendants Michael Spicer and Evan George were released from custody May 3 by High Court Justice Kenneth Benjamin.

The three, along with their friend William Labrador, had been standing trial for the murder of Lois McMillen, a 34-year-old artist and former model from Middlebury, Conn., who was found drowned in January 2000. The judge ruled at the end of the prosecution's case that the testimony of a convicted swindler about prison statements allegedly made by the men was insufficient to support murder convictions against the trio.

William Labrador has yet to appeal his murder conviction, which was upheld in January, to England's highest court.

A week after Benjamin directed the forewoman of the nine-member jury to enter verdicts of not guilty against the three, the jury deliberated and found the fourth defendant guilty. Labrador, 38, of New York, was sentenced to life in prison on the spot for McMillen's murder.

Prosecutors did not pursue a separate conspiracy indictment against the defendants at the time and Benjamin permitted Spicer and Benedetto to post $10,000 bonds and leave Tortola until the cases were called. A different judge ordered Spicer and Benedetto to appear in court on March 22 to answer the conspiracy charges, leaving open the possibility that Benedetto will be taken into custody again pending a bail hearing on the reinstated murder charge.

The murder charge was reinstated in January by a three-judge appeals panel. The ruling acknowledged that there was no forensic or physical evidence linking Benedetto to the victim — or the rocky shoreline where McMillen's body was found — but the judges agreed with prosecutors that a jury should have been allowed to consider the prison informant's testimony about Benedetto.

Labrador's cellmate, habitual check-kiter Jeffrey Plante of Texas, testified that Benedetto and Labrador had frequent heated arguments. One time, he said, Benedetto ran up to Labrador and told him "he had better pay his father back the $350,000 he owed him and stop acting so pious, that he, Labrador was more guilty than he, Benedetto, was," according to the appeals court’s Jan. 14 decision.

"What Benedetto is alleged to have said, if accepted by the jury, could have amounted to a confession of the crime charged," Justice Satrohan Singh wrote.

Michael Spicer, acquitted last May, will not be retried for the killing of McMillen but must appear March 22 on a related conspiracy charge.

Initially, a lawyer for Spicer said the ruling seemed to completely clear the Georgetown Law School graduate from Virginia. A closer reading, however, revealed that Spicer, 38, still faces the conspiracy charge.

"I think Michael Spicer thought he was off the hook completely. How it's going to play out, I don't know, but I'm going to be in court on March 22," Josephine McMillen, the murder victim's mother, said in a telephone interview Tuesday from her vacation home on Tortola.

Lois McMillen had left that home in a seaside village on Tortola's West End alone on the night of Jan. 14, 2000, to listen to music at a nearby restaurant and bar. When she had not returned by 10 a.m. the following day, the McMillens called police. Lois McMillen's body had already been found by then lying face up on the shoreline by a frequently traveled coastal road.

Police took Labrador, Spicer, Benedetto and George into custody within hours based on a cut on William Labrador's nose, scratches on Benedetto and the presence of wet and sandy shoes. During the trial, evidence was presented that the cut on Labrador's nose was evident in a photo taken before the killing and that the foursome had been hiking along the beach the day before.

In his instructions to the jury, Benjamin told jurors that the prosecution's case against the only remaining defendant, Labrador, came down to whether the panel believed his word or Plante's. Plante has since been transferred back to Texas, where he is serving out 33 years remaining on a 45-year sentence he received in 1987 for felony larceny.

Victim Lois McMillen dated Alex Benedetto briefly in 1997, but he says it ended amicably.

Labrador took the witness stand during the trial and denied killing McMillen or telling Plante that he did. The defense tried to paint Plante as a scheming, pathological liar who would say or do anything to suit his needs. Among other things, lawyers noted that Plante's testimony was vague and was remarkably similar to testimony he gave in 1995 against a fellow prisoner charged with murder in Hawaii.

Prosecutor Terrence Williams, who could not be reached, indicated in court Tuesday that he could produce Plante as a witness with 48 hours' notice, if necessary, according to Benedetto's attorney.

The attorney, Paul Dennis, said that Benedetto plans to appeal the reinstatement of the murder charge to the Privy Council, England's highest court. That makes it unlikely that any trial will be held during the current trial term, he said. Labrador has yet to file his planned appeal to England.

If Benedetto does return to Tortola for the March 22 appearance and is re-arrested on the murder charge, it would likely be followed quickly by a new bail hearing. The prosecution would be forced to decide, if he does not appear, whether to seek his extradition or try him in absentia.

Prosecutors never presented evidence of a motive for the killing of McMillen, who dated Benedetto briefly after they met on Tortola in 1997. Plante testified that Labrador confessed vaguely to killing McMillen during an argument over money.