Leonardo v. State
| Decision Date | 30 April 1982 |
| Docket Number | No. 81-175-C,81-175-C |
| Citation | 444 A.2d 876 |
| Parties | Bruce LEONARDO v. STATE. A. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
This appeal concerns a Superior Court petition for postconviction relief in which the petitioner, Bruce Leonardo (Leonardo), seeks to set aside a series of concurrent prison sentences that were imposed upon him in late November 1973. Approximately seven and one-half years later, in March 1981, the petition came on to be heard and denied by the sentencing justice.
The record indicates that on September 17, 1973, Leonardo appeared in the Superior Court for the specific purpose of withdrawing not-guilty pleas entered to four separate indictments that charged him with committing the four respective crimes of kidnapping, rape, sodomy, and robbery and substituting in their stead guilty pleas. Before accepting a change in pleas, the sentencing justice went to great lengths to assure herself that Leonardo's decision represented an intelligent and voluntary waiver of the pertinent constitutional guarantees.
When asked by the trial justice for the factual basis of the plea, an assistant attorney general reported that the state was prepared to prove that in the early afternoon of August 15, 1972, Leonardo was the driver of a van truck that was proceeding along Sessions Street in Providence. In the truck with him were three associates, Edward Raso (Raso), Richard Correira (Correira), and Anthony Gilbert (Gilbert). A fifteen-year-old female was observed walking along the sidewalk, whereupon Leonardo pulled up to the curb. Correira and Gilbert alighted from the rear of the van, grabbed the girl, and dumped her in the rear of the truck. The vehicle then made its way from Providence's East Side to a vacant house in the city's Federal Hill section.
During the westward trip toward Federal Hill, the girl was blindfolded, tied, gagged, and beaten. Upon arriving at the vacant house, the teen-ager was taken by Leonardo and Gilbert to the second floor. There she was forced to disrobe. She was raped by Leonardo and forced to engage in oral sex with him and one of his companions. While this was taking place, Gilbert searched the girl's clothing and removed from her pockets ninety cents in change and a Social Security card. When the police arrived on the scene, Leonardo and Gilbert fled.
Before detailing the facts to which we have just alluded, the assistant attorney general was asked by the sentencing judge what disposition the state was recommending. In posing the question, the sentencing judge was quick to say, "I want you to understand that I am not prepared to say whether I will accept your recommendation." The assistant attorney general, after acknowledging the trial justice's position, then informed her that the state was recommending "a period of incarceration of 10 years." According to the assistant attorney general, the ten-year recommendation came about because of Leonardo's supplying information which permitted the Attorney General's Department, the state police, and the Providence police to dispose of several pending cases or investigations.
The sentencing justice, in addressing Leonardo, made it clear that if she were prepared to accept the Attorney General's recommendation, she would not hesitate to say so, but, she said, Leonardo replied, "I fully understand that, Your Honor." After further extended discussion, the sentencing justice ordered that a plea of nolo be entered in each of the indictments and continued the matter for sentencing, stressing the need of a presentence report. The sentencing justice also told Leonardo that any sentence imposed would be based upon the "presentence report * * * your prior record, * * * any extenuating circumstances that you or your attorney wishes to present and * *...
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State v. Young
...of sentence on all issues "germane and of possible assistance in the determination of the sentence to be imposed." Leonardo v. State, 444 A.2d 876, 878 (R.I.1982); see also State v. Nicoletti, 471 A.2d 613, 618 (R.I.1984); Robalewski v. Superior Court, 97 R.I. 357, 197 A.2d 751, 753 (1964).......
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Harvey v. State
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State v. Nicoletti
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