OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. The defendant, Paul Castriotta, appeals from an order of the Superior Court that denied his motion to vacate judgment and sentence. On appeal before this Court, Castriotta argues that his plea to criminal charges should be set aside because his attorney did not inform him that the attorney was undergoing a personal struggle while he continued to represent the defendant. On October 29, 2013, this case came before the Supreme Court pursuant to an order...
OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. The defendant, Paul Castriotta, appeals from an order of the Superior Court that denied his motion to vacate judgment and sentence. On appeal before this Court, Castriotta argues that his plea to criminal charges should be set aside because his attorney did not inform him that the attorney was undergoing a personal struggle while he continued to represent the defendant. On October 29, 2013, this case came before the Supreme Court pursuant to an order...
OPINION Chief Justice SUTTELL, for the Court. A young girl's decision to leave her grandparents' home surreptitiously in the early-morning hours in order to rendezvous with her boyfriend resulted in consequences she did not foresee: her abduction in Middletown, an automobile ride to New Bedford during which she was concealed beneath a tarpaulin, and an alleged sexual assault in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The defendant, Lawrence Clay, appeals from a Superior Court judgment of...
OPINION Justice GOLDBERG, for the Court. This case came before the Supreme Court on September 25, 2013, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. This application for postconviction relief is Eddie M. Linde's (Linde or applicant) third attempt to persuade this Court to either vacate his convictions for second-degree murder and related firearms offenses or vacate the mandatory consecutive life...
OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. The defendant, Donald Young, appeals to this Court from a judgment of conviction on seven counts; the murder of Kasean Benton in violation of G.L.1956 11-23-1 (count 1), conspiracy to commit murder in violation of G.L.1956 11-1-6 (count 2), discharging a firearm during the commission of a violent crime resulting in the death of another in violation of G.L. 1956 11-47-3.2 (count 3), assault with a dangerous weapon on Dukuly Torell Soko in...
ORDER This attorney disciplinary matter comes before us pursuant to Article III, Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules of Disciplinary Procedure. On August 19, 2013, the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court (board) forwarded to us a decision finding that the respondent, Donald F. DeCiccio, had violated the Supreme Court Rules of Professional Conduct. The board has recommended that we impose a public censure as a sanction for that misconduct. We directed the respondent to appear before this...
OPINION Justice ROBINSON, for the Court. This Court granted the State of Rhode Island's petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of the Superior Court's grant of the defendant's motion to reduce sentence pursuant to Rule 35 of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure. Upon granting the petition for a writ of certiorari, this Court specifically instructed the parties to address, inter alia, whether a motion to reduce sentence, once denied, may again be brought by the defendant...
OPINION Justice ROBINSON, for the Court. The defendant, Marcus Huffman, appeals from a judgment of conviction following a lengthy trial, at the conclusion of which the jury found him guilty of first degree sexual assault stemming from an incident that occurred in March of 2007. The justice of the Superior Court who had presided over the trial sentenced the defendant to sixty years, with forty years to serve at the Adult Correctional Institutions and with twenty years suspended with probation....
OPINION Justice ROBINSON, for the Court. The defendant, Derrick R. Oliver, appeals after being convicted of five criminal counts. On appeal, the defendant raises two issues. First, he argues that the trial court erred when it did not dismiss the charges against him after the state allegedly failed to comply with the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (the IADA or the act), G.L.1956 chapter 13 of title 13. Specifically, the defendant, who was a prisoner in Massachusetts, contends that he...
OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. Is a trial justice constitutionally required to appoint counsel to represent a pro se defendant who voluntarily absents himself from trial We hold that neither the United States Constitution, nor article 1, section 10 of the Rhode Island Constitution mandates that counsel be appointed in such a situation. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of conviction for three counts of first-degree child molestation sexual assault...
OPINION Justice GOLDBERG, for the Court. The defendant, Adrian Hazard, 1 appeals from an adjudication of probation violation. While on probation, the defendant fled from two uniformed police officers after they instructed him to stop his vehicle. After the defendant's brief flight came to an end and he was arrested, a replica of an 1858 Remington revolver was discovered on the floor of his car. On the basis of this conduct, the trial justice found the defendant to be a violator of the terms...
OPINION Justice INDEGLIA, for the Court. Roger Morin (Morin or defendant) appeals from a Superior Court judgment of conviction for first-degree child molestation. On appeal, he contends that the trial justice erred in refusing to suppress a statement he made to the Warren police following his arrest. He also ascribes error to the trial justice's decision to admit that statement without first redacting certain portions. Finally, he argues that the trial justice erred in denying his motion...
OPINION Chief Justice SUTTELL, for the Court. The defendant, Gerald D. Price, was convicted by a jury of one count of possession of marijuana and two counts of possession of cocaine with the intent to deliver while armed with or having available a firearm. On appeal, Price contends that the trial justice committed three errors, each of which, he maintains, entitles him to a new trial. First, the defendant argues that the trial justice incorrectly interpreted the meaning of the phrase "having...
OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. Before this Court is an appeal from a judgment of conviction adjudicating the defendant Alfred Bishop guilty of (1) first-degree murder, pursuant to G.L.1956 11-23-1; (2) burglary, pursuant to G.L. 1956 11-8-1; (3) three counts of using a firearm while committing a crime of violence, pursuant to G.L.1956 11-47-3.2; and (4) two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, pursuant to G.L.1956 11-5-2. In May 2009, he was sentenced to life without...
ORDER The defendant, Jaimeson Rushlow, appeals from a Superior Court order denying his motion for the return of seized property. This case came before the Supreme Court for oral argument pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. After considering the parties' written and oral submissions and after reviewing the record, we conclude that cause has not been shown and that this case may be decided without further...
OPINION Justice GOLDBERG, for the Court. She was jumping rope in front of her house. It was an early evening in May when an armed gunman in a hooded sweatshirt approached her in front of 95 Congress Avenue in Providence. He shot her several times at close range. She was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital, where she died the next day from multiple gunshot wounds to her head and neck. She was an eyewitness to the murder of Hector Feliciano (Feliciano), and she was under subpoena to testify in a...
OPINION Justice ROBINSON, for the Court. The defendant, Keith Harrison, appeals from a judgment of conviction for simple domestic assault. This case came before the Supreme Court pursuant to an order directing the parties to show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not be summarily decided. After carefully considering the record, the memoranda submitted to this Court on behalf of the parties, and the oral arguments of counsel, we are of the opinion that cause has not been shown...
OPINION Justice ROBINSON, for the Court. On December 5, 2006, a Providence County Family Court jury found the defendant, Jeffrey Moten, guilty of first degree child abuse for inflicting serious bodily injury on his infant daughter, Nashya Moten. On May 10, 2007, the trial justice sentenced the defendant to twenty years, with eighteen years to serve and two years suspended with probation, along with one hundred hours of community service. On appeal, defendant contends that his right to...
OPINION Chief Justice SUTTELL, for the Court. On July 1, 2008, this Court issued an opinion in a civil action brought by the State of Rhode Island (plaintiff or state) against various former lead pigment manufacturers 1 and the Lead Industries Association, Inc., thus concluding what is widely considered to be the longest civil jury trial in this state's history. See State v. Lead Industries Association, Inc., 951 A.2d 428 , 434, 435 (R.I.2008). Our decision may have resolved the...
OPINION Justice FLAHERTY, for the Court. The applicant, Harold Hazard, appeals to this Court from the Superior Court's denial of his application for postconviction relief. Hazard previously had been convicted of one count of first-degree child molestation sexual assault, in violation of G.L. 1956 11-37-8.1, 1 and four counts of second-degree child molestation sexual assault, in violation of 11-37-8.3. 2 Before this Court, Hazard contends that his application for postconviction relief...
