State v. Adams

• Decision Date: 19 June 2017
• Docket Number: No. 2016–116–C.A. (P1/13–3713AG),2016–116–C.A. (P1/13–3713AG)
• Citation: 161 A.3d 1182
• Parties: STATE v. James ADAMS.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

161 A.3d 1182

STATE

v.James ADAMS.

No. 2016–116–C.A. (P1/13–3713AG)

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 19, 2017

Aaron L. Weisman, Department of Attorney General, for State

Jodi M. Gladstone, Esq., for Defendant.

Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice Suttell, for the Court.

The defendant, James Adams, appeals from a judgment of conviction of one count of first-degree robbery, two counts of felony assault, one count of second-degree murder, and one count of committing a crime of violence while possessing a firearm.These charges stemmed from allegations that the defendant, during June and July 2012, accessed Backpage.com¹ for escort services and had female escorts meet him at his designated location, where he then committed the above-referenced crimes.Following the jury's guilty verdict, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was heard and denied by a justice of the Superior Court.On appeal, the defendant maintains that he is entitled to a new trial because the weight of the evidence was insufficient to convict him and that the trial justice erred in deciding otherwise.The defendant also appeals the admission of certain evidence relating to cell phone data and analysis that was introduced at trial, which he claims should have been excluded by the trial justice.For the reasons stated herein, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

IFacts and Travel

AInitial Murder Investigation

On July 20, 2012, Patrolman Jared Hardy of the Cranston Police Department responded to the area of 391 Farmington Avenue in Cranston (the property), a three-family home with "a detached garage to the left rear"(the garage).Patrolman Hardy was dispatched in connection with a report of "an oozing liquid which was coming out of the garage" that had a "bad smell."Upon entering the garage he"was struck with the smell of decaying flesh," and he determined that the smell was emanating "from the back left corner of the garage."Upon walking to the back left corner and tipping a green sofa over to identify the source of the smell, Hardy found a badly decayed body of what appeared to be an African-American female (the decedent).Hardy immediately called for a supervisor and secured the scene.

Detective William John Palmer of the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI) unit² of the Cranston Police Department was called into work to investigate this matter.Upon arriving at the property with another BCI detective, Peter Souza, Det. Palmer observed "a dark colored stain that appeared to be coming from the * * * garage['s] * * * east side wall."Upon entering the garage, he witnessed the tipped-over green sofa and the decomposing body of the decedent.He described the garage as cluttered and with the appearance that it was used for storage and "for people hanging out."

Detective Souza took several photographs of both the inside and outside of the garage and of the decedent's body.Detective Palmer also photographed "contents that were at [the decedent's] feet that appeared to be dumped there," and he observed a tan pocketbook and a green piece of clothing—later identified as a jumper.He identified several other items found by the decedent's feet, including a cell phone charger, lotion, earphones, a Massachusetts identification card, and a black wig.Under the black wig, he discovered a body spray, Vaseline petroleum jelly, a couple of debit cards belonging to one Mary Grier, and a pair of size medium Joe Boxer underwear.

Detective Sergeant Michael Hollis Gates of the Cranston Police Department, who had also responded to the property that day, was given the Massachusetts identification card, but he could not identify the decedent in the garage due to the extensive decomposition of the body.Detective Gates testified that the name on the identification card was Mary Grier.On the next day, July 21, he, along with another detective, "follow[ed] up with the address that [they] had on the identification that was recovered next to the body."That address was in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where they met with Leslie and Jeanetta Trotman(the Trotmans), Grier's foster parents.³They indicated to the detectives that they believed Grier had been working at Foxy Lady, an adult entertainment club in Providence, and they also provided the detectives with the address of Regina Grier, Grier's adoptive mother.⁴Detective Gates went to Foxy Lady to follow up on the information he had received from the Trotmans, and he learned that Grier "hadn't been working there recently."

The following day, July 22, Det. Gates met with Jesse Adams, defendant's brother.According to Jesse Adams, in June 2012, defendant lived in the garage.⁵Following the meeting with Jesse Adams, Det. Gates asked that a photo array be prepared containing defendant's image and that defendant's parole officer be contacted to ascertain defendant's whereabouts.That same day, after having become confident that the decedent was Grier, Det. Gates returned to Dorchester to inform both sets of parents that Grier had passed away.Detective Gates obtained Grier's cell phone number, and a fellow detective prepared search warrants for certain cell phone records.Subsequently, Det. Gates secured an arrest warrant for defendant.

On July 23, 2012, Det. Gates interviewed Jessica Dyer after "[he] was given information that there may have been a second female present at * * * [the] garage * * * the night that [they] believe[d] * * * Grier was murdered."Dyer alleged that she had been assaulted by a man in the same garage on June 30, 2012.Detective Gates conducted a photo array with six photos of males who had the same general characteristics as defendant.Dyer identified defendant as her assailant.⁶

On July 24, the detectives learned of defendant's whereabouts and proceeded to the Charlesgate Manor apartment complex in Providence to execute an arrest warrant.Detective Jaime Cahill of the Cranston Police Department testified that he entered a building in the apartment complex and waited for defendant by the elevators with other officers.Realizing that defendant did not come off of the elevator, Det. Cahill rushed outside the building and observed defendant"running through the parking lot."He further observed defendant discard a backpack, "which another detective secured," while another detective tackled defendant.

Detective Souza testified that he was called to the location of the arrest to collect a "red and black backpack, a couple of bottles of beer, [a] bottle of water, * * * and an Airsoft pistol."As part of the investigation, he test-fired the pistol found in the backpack and confirmed that this "pistol [was] an operable firearm" that was capable of firing plastic and metal projectiles.

On July 26, Evonna Malave, who had previously reported to the police that, on June 24, 2012, she had been sexually assaulted and robbed by a man on School Street in Johnston, went to the Johnston Police Department, where she gave a statement and identified defendant as her assailant.⁷

On December 6, 2013, defendant was charged by criminal indictment with the murder of Grier (count 1), two counts of felony assault upon Dyer (counts 2 and 3), two counts of committing a crime of violence while in possession of a firearm (counts 4 and 11), two counts of first-degree sexual assault upon Malave (counts 8 and 9), first-degree robbery of Malave (count 10), and unlawful possession of a firearm (count 12).⁸These counts were the subject of a ten-day jury trial, during which a total of twenty-eight witnesses testified.These witnesses included the detectives involved in the investigation, forensic and cell phone data experts, the two complaining witnesses, and several individuals who knew defendant in 2012.

BForensic Analysis

Doctor Carolyn Revercomb, a former assistant medical examiner at the Office of State Medical Examiners for Rhode Island, testified about the forensic autopsy that she conducted on the decedent in July 2012.She explained that the decedent was identified through dental records as Mary S. Grier and that the decedent's body was "in a state of decomposition with partial skeletonization, meaning exposure of bone," when examined.Doctor Revercomb explained that the decedent's body arrived nude, with a ligature wrapped around her neck, a belly button piercing, and an anklet.She noted that a jumper-type garment accompanied the decedent's body.

After explaining the procedure that she followed in examining the decedent's body, Dr. Revercomb acknowledged that "decomposition can obscure surface features of the body."During her external examination, Dr. Revercomb discovered bruising "on the front of the right knee, on the front of the lower right leg, and over the back of the index finger on the right hand."She also testified to "a fracture without any bleeding into it of the left clavicle" and opined that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, based on "[b]oth the appearance of the fracture break into that bone and its relationship to the body position at the scene," that "this [was] a postmortem fracture; that [Grier] did not have a blood pressure when it happened."During her internal examination of the decedent, Dr. Revercomb "saw some focal bleeding in the scalp."

Doctor Revercomb concluded that the cause of death was homicidal violence.She explained that "[h]omicidal violence is a blanket term for findings associated with an assault by another or others."She reached this opinion based on several factors, including "the positioning of the body in a concealed location where it was found, the presence of the ligature around the neck with an * * * irregular knot[,]" the fact that the body was nude, the fact that there were clothing and a wig present at the scene, "indicating a struggle," and the fact that there were bruises on the decedent's right leg and on her right-hand index finger, which Dr. Revercomb noted as resulting "potentially from a...