"State
prosecutors are asking to argue, again, their appeal before the state
Supreme Court in the Raymond D. "Beaver" Tempest Jr. murder case. The
state Tuesday filed a petition to re-argue the case, now 34 years after
prosecutors say Tempest bludgeoned to death 22-year-old Doreen Picard
and severely injured Picard's landlord. The
state disputed the value of evidence the high court determined had been
withheld and its finding that then-prosecutor James Ryan deliberately
failed to disclose witness statements in Tempest's 1992 trial. "Respectfully
... then, it is simply incorrect that 'the former prosecutor's own
words 'don't volunteer' are indicative of a considered decision by the
former prosecutor to suppress for the purpose of obstructing," read the
petition signed by Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin. He was referring
to a 1992 note from Ryan that read, “too late, don’t volunteer new
info, will cause big problems.” The state
asserts that Ryan was concerned about delaying the trial and argues the
lower court "committed clear error" by not believing Ryan during a
lengthy post-conviction hearing. The high
court earlier this month found that Tempest was entitled to a new trial.
In doing so, the court upheld a decision by Superior Court Judge Daniel
A. Procaccini to vacate Tempest’s second-degree murder conviction for
Picard's beating death. Procaccini found that police and prosecutors had
violated Tempest’s right to a fair trial by coaching witnesses, failing
to disclose evidence and suppressing key details about a witness’s
changing statements. Procaccini did not declare
Tempest innocent, but said he deserved a new trial. Tempest has been on
home confinement since September. The high
court agreed with Procaccini, with majority finding that Ryan violated
Tempest’s due-process rights by failing to disclose witness statements
to Tempest’s defense lawyer. In doing so, he violated rules governing
the disclosure of exculpatory evidence or evidence that could be used to
impeach witnesses at trial. A jury in 1992 convicted Tempest of Picard's murder. He was sentenced to serve 85 years in prison."
http://m.providencejournal.com/news/20160726/state-asks-ri-supreme-court-for-new-arguments-in-tempest-murder-case
See earlier Innocence Project note on the case at the link below: "On April 22, 1992, Tempest was convicted of the 1982 murder of
22-year-old Doreen Picard. At his trial, the prosecution offered no
physical evidence connecting Tempest to the crime, and there were no
eyewitnesses claiming to have seen Tempest at the crime scene. The
state’s case rested on four individuals who claimed that Tempest had
confessed to them. The individuals were all vulnerable to police
pressure, due to their backgrounds in drug trafficking, drug use or
prostitution. Tempest was convicted and sentenced to 85 years."
http://www.innocenceproject.org/raymond-d-tempest-jr-released-from-prison-on-bail/
Sent from my iPhone