State v. Tassone
| Decision Date | 16 July 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-124-C,78-124-C |
| Citation | 417 A.2d 323 |
| Parties | STATE v. Anthony TASSONE. A. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This is an appeal by the petitioner, Anthony Tassone (Tassone), from an "amended judgment" entered in a postconviction-relief proceeding before the Superior Court. The amended judgment, which was entered after a hearing held in the petitioner's absence, changed the petitioner's five-year criminal sentence, rendered illegal by the passage of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-1-6, as enacted by P.L. 1975, ch. 283, § 2, to a permissible two-year sentence. Tassone contends that as he was not present at the postconviction-relief hearing and as his counsel was not permitted to address the sentencing issue directly, he is entitled to a rehearing.
In 1973, Tassone (then a defendant) and three other defendants were tried and convicted of conspiring to corrupt horse trainers at Lincoln Downs racetrack in violation of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-7-9. Tassone was sentenced, as the other defendants had been earlier, to serve five years at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI). The sentence was to run consecutively with one Tassone was already serving in New Jersey for a criminal conviction on another charge in that state. After Tassone's Rhode Island sentence was imposed, he was returned to New Jersey.
Tassone and the other three defendants appealed their conspiracy convictions, and their sentences were stayed pending the outcome of these appeals. Because Tassone's sentence was stayed, the trial justice deemed it appropriate to delete any reference to the fact that Tassone's sentence was being served consecutively with his sentence in New Jersey. In State v. Ciulla, 115 R.I. 558, 351 A.2d 580 (1976), this court affirmed the conspiracy convictions of the four defendants.
The four defendants had been sentenced under the authority of G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 11-1-1, which provided that every offense at common law (in this case, conspiracy) was punishable by a prison term not to exceed ten years or a fine not to exceed $5,000. While the defendants' appeals in State v. Ciulla, 115 R.I. 558, 351 A.2d 580 (1976), were pending, however, the Legislature at its January 1975 session enacted § 11-1-6, which provided in part that any person convicted of conspiring to commit a crime would be subject to the same fine and imprisonment as that which applied to the substantive offense, as long as no imprisonment for conspiracy exceeded ten years. In the case of the defendants, the substantive offense underlying their conspiracy, i. e., corruption of a sports participant or official, as defined in § 11-7-9, carried a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment or a fine of $1,000, or both.
Accordingly, on May 10, 1976, one of Tassone's codefendants, Salvatore Macarelli, filed a motion to reduce sentence pursuant to Super.R.Crim.P. 35, alleging that his sentence should be reduced to two years' imprisonment pursuant to the newly enacted statute. Macarelli's motion was denied and he filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with this court, which petition was granted in State v. Macarelli, 118 R.I. 693, 375 A.2d 944 (1977). In Macarelli, this court held that a judgment of conviction was not final so long as the case was pending on appeal and that all those cases which had not been reduced to final judgment prior to the enactment of § 11-1-6 should be accorded the more lenient treatment.
On August 22, 1977, a month after this court's decision in Macarelli, Tassone filed an application for postconviction-relief pursuant to G.L. 1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 10-9.1-1(a)(3), as enacted by P.L. 1974, ch. 220 § 3, alleging that his five-year sentence exceeded the maximum sentence authorized by law. His application sought to vacate the sentence previously imposed. Tassone's attorney had previously filed a motion, which was granted August 11, 1977, directing the Superior Court clerk to request authorities in New Jersey to deliver Tassone to Rhode Island so that he could attend the postconviction-relief hearing.
The record also indicates that in August there was activity on codefendants' motions to reduce sentence pursuant to Super.R.Crim.P. 35. One codefendant was resentenced to two years at the ACI, another to eighteen months at the ACI, and a third received a suspended sentence.
On September 7, 1977, the state filed an answer to Tassone's application for postconviction-relief contending that vacating the initial sentence was not the appropriate remedy and requesting that Tassone's five-year sentence merely be reduced. The state also filed a motion to vacate the prior order compelling rendition of Tassone to Rhode Island. On September 15, 1977, an order was entered by the Superior Court that Tassone be brought from New Jersey to Rhode Island for the postconviction-relief hearing.
In October, the New Jersey prison authorities stated that there was no procedural method for returning Tassone to Rhode Island until he had finished serving his New Jersey prison term. In light of this information, the...
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Tempest v. State
...2007)). The proceedings for such relief are "civil in nature." Ouimette v. Moran, 541 A.2d 855, 856 (R.I. 1988) (citing State v. Tassone, 417 A.2d 323 (R.I. 1980)). In accordance with the statute, "[t]he court shall make specific findings of fact, and state expressly its conclusions of law,......
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Tempest v. State
...2007)). The proceedings for such relief are "civil in nature." Ouimette v. Moran, 541 A.2d 855, 856 (R.I. 1988) (citing State v. Tassone, 417 A.2d 323 (R.I. 1980)). In accordance with the statute, "[t]he court shall make specific findings of fact, and state expressly its conclusions of law,......
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Tempest v. State
...2007)). The proceedings for such relief are "civil in nature." Ouimette v. Moran, 541 A.2d 855, 856 (R.I. 1988) (citing State v. Tassone, 417 A.2d 323 (R.I. 1980)). In accordance with the statute, "[t]he court shall make specific findings of fact, and state expressly its conclusions of law,......
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Tempest v. State
...... State , 925 A.2d 890, 893 (R.I. 2007) (citing Larngar. v. Wall, 918 A.2d 850, 855 (R.I. 2007)). The proceedings. for such relief are "civil in nature." Ouimette. v. Moran , 541 A.2d 855, 856 (R.I. 1988) (citing. State v. Tassone, 417 A.2d 323 (R.I. 1980)). In. accordance with the statute, "[t]he court shall make. specific findings of fact, and state expressly its. conclusions of law, relating to each issue presented.". Sec. 10-9.1-7. . . III . . . ......