Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court denying Defendant's motion to vacate an illegal sentence and judgment, holding that the hearing justice did not act arbitrarily or capriciously when he found that Defendant violated the conditions of his probation to which he was sentenced after his 2009 conviction. In 2009, Defendant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment plus a suspended sentence, with probation. In 2018, Defendant pled nolo contendere to other offenses. Because Defendant was on probation at the time of the 2018, the hearing justice found Defendant to have violated the conditions of his 2009 probation and sentenced him on the same sentence previously imposed. Defendant filed a motion to vacate an illegal sentence, which the hearing justice denied. Before the Supreme Court, Defendant asserted that there were no conditions of probation prior to the enactment of R.I. Gen. Laws 12-19-8.1 in 2017. Therefore, Defendant argued that because he was sentenced to probation before 2017, he could not have violated any probation condition. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that section 12-19-8.1 codified what had long been recognized as conditions of probation in Rhode Island. View "State v. Chandler" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court convicting Defendant of three counts of first-degree child molestation sexual assault, holding that Defendant's argument alleging an instructional error was waived and that the trial justice did not err in denying Defendant's motion for a new trial. On appeal, Defendant asserted that the trial justice erred in failing to grant a mistrial or to strike the complaining witness's testimony and exacerbated the error by instructing the jury to disregard a portion of the complaining witness's testimony and that the trial justice erred in denying his motion for a new trial. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Defendant waived his argument as to the denial of the motion for a mistrial and motion to strike and further waived his contention that the trial justice compounded the alleged error; and (2) the trial justice did not overlook or misconceive material evidence and was not otherwise clearly wrong when he denied Defendant's motion for a new trial. View "State v. Franco" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court quashed the order of the district court denying Appellant's motion to seal his records under R.I. Gen. Laws 12-1-12 on the grounds that because Defendant was charged with a civil violation rather than a criminal violation, he was not entitled to relief under the statute, holding that a person charged with a first violation of driving with a suspended license is entitled to have his records sealed under the provisions of section 12-1-12. In denying Defendant's motion to seal his records, the trial judge looked to the language of the statute, noting that it speaks only to criminal cases and is silent with respect to civil violations, and concluded that the Legislature had provided no mechanism to seal or expunge civil violations. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that where Defendant was detained by police but not arrested or charged with an offense, he was entitled to the benefits of section 12-1-12(a) with respect to the destruction and sealing of his records. View "State ex rel. Coventry Police Department v. Charlwood" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court vacated Defendant's judgment of conviction on one count of first-degree child molestation sexual assault and remanded the case to the superior court for a new trial, holding that the trial justice erred in denying Defendant's motion to pass the case after the prosecutor's statements during closing argument about Defendant's courtroom demeanor and behavior toward the complainant. Specifically, the Court held (1) the prosecutor's statements regarding Defendant's courtroom demeanor had the potential for unfair prejudice, and a curative instruction could not overcome the prejudice in this case; (2) the trial justice erred in admitting some, but not all, of the evidence pertaining to a police investigation into Defendant for possession of child pornography; and (3) Defendant's claim that the trial justice erred in failing to safeguard Defendant's right to a fair trial based on various claims related to the presence of members of a motorcycle group known as Bikers Against Child Abuse in the courtroom during trial was not properly before the court. View "State v. Bozzo" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court convicting Defendant of first-degree murder and first-degree arson, holding that the trial justice was not clearly wrong in denying Defendant's motion for a new trial. On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial justice was clearly wrong when she denied his motion for a new trial because the weight of the evidence did not support the jury's verdict. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the evidence supported a finding that Defendant was the perpetrator and that the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence because the evidence supported a finding of premeditation. View "State v. Gumkowski" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court convicting Defendant of one count of domestic assault with a dangerous weapon, holding that the trial justice did not abuse her discretion in her evidentiary rulings. On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial justice erred by granting two of the State's motions in limine precluding the jury from hearing evidence of the victim's arrest for gun charges and viewing videos of the victim having engaged in acts of violence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial justice did not abuse her discretion when she (1) prevented any mention that Defendant had been arrested on the gun charges, and (2) excluded the videos. View "State v. Medina" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house and other offenses, holding that the trial justice did not err in admitting a recording and transcript of a phone call between Defendant and a confidential informant into evidence and did not clearly err by failing to grant a mistrial when it became evidence that defense counsel did not possess or review the complete discovery package prior to trial. Specifically, the Court held (1) the trial justice did not abuse his discretion when he admitted the transcript of the phone call into evidence; (2) there was not clear error in the trial justice's finding that Defendant was not prejudiced by not having certain materials priorate trial; and (3) having found no abuse of discretion when denying the mistrial, there is no reason to overturn the trial justice's denial of a motion for a new trial for the same reasons. View "State v. Rivera" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of four counts of first-degree sexual assault, holding that the trial justice did not err when he did not declare a mistrial after the prosecutor made "ill advised" statements that were not prejudicial to Defendant. On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial justice erred by failing to grant his motion to pass the case after the prosecutor made an improper remark during her closing argument by briefly referring to the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) and after the prosecutor improperly vouched for the credibility of the victim during her closing argument. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the prosecutor's reference to the ACI was improper, but the comment was not so prejudicial that the trial court's failure to grant a mistrial was an abuse of discretion; and (2) any potential prejudice to Defendant arising from the prosecutor's comment relating her personal experience during her closing argument did not render the proceedings unfair. View "State v. Belen" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court denying Defendant's motion to reduce or correct an illegal sentence, holding that, under the circumstances of this case, the trial court did not err in denying the motion despite the fact that the judgment of conviction did not conform to the oral sentence. In his motion, Defendant conceded that the original sentence imposed was not an illegal sentence but that the error arose from the manner in which the sentence was executed. Specifically, under the law in effect at the time, Defendant was eligible to appear before the parole board after ten years' imprisonment, but it wasn't until eighteen years later that he was first deemed eligible to appear before the parole board. The trial justice denied the motion because Defendant's sentence was not illegal. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that relief was not available to Defendant. View "State v. Mattatall" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court convicting Defendant of first-degree sexual assault, holding that the trial justice did not abuse its discretion in admitting certain text messages because the evidence was properly authenticated under R.I. R. Evid. 901. The text messages at issue were allegedly sent by Defendant to the complainant. Defendant argued on appeal that because the State did not produce either direct evidence or evidence of distinctive characteristics of the text messages, it did not establish that the text messages were written by Defendant and therefore did not properly authenticate the evidence in accordance with Rule 901. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the State produced sufficient circumstantial evidence to establish that Defendant authored the text messages, and therefore, the evidence was properly authenticated under Rule 901. View "State v. Mulcahey" on Justia Law