State v. Adams
| Decision Date | 21 August 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 83-372-C,83-372-C |
| Citation | 481 A.2d 718 |
| Parties | STATE v. Maurice ADAMS. A. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
The defendant, Maurice Adams, appeals from a Superior Court conviction of first-degree murder. The defendant was indicted by a Providence County Grand Jury and charged with the murder of Linda Raymond. Pretrial motions were heard on March 14, 1983. The trial commenced on the same date before a justice of the Superior Court and a jury. The jury returned a verdict of guilty on March 24, 1983. The defendant's motion for a new trial was denied on April 7, 1983, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Adult Correctional Institutions.
The facts in this case, which are somewhat involved, are essentially as follows. On June 13, 1981, at approximately eleven o'clock in the evening, Linda Raymond was murdered in the small park adjacent to the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building in downtown Providence. At about that time, Robert J. Clarke entered the park via the steps at the Empire Street entrance. As he entered the park, he observed a woman lying on the ground and a young, clean-shaven, short-haired man dressed in white pants and a white shirt, leaning over her calling for help. Mr. Clarke was unable to identify the man. The defendant, however, testified that he was the man in the park with the victim.
Mr. Clarke flagged down a passing patrol car. Officer Robert Creighton, who was cruising the area, testified that upon entering the park, he saw the victim lying on the ground, bleeding profusely from the neck. He also testified that defendant was crouched over her, calling for a rescue truck. Officer Creighton paused at the scene for a brief moment before leaving to radio for assistance. The defendant remained at the scene until he was taken to the station by the Providence police.
Doctor William A. Sturner, Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Rhode Island, testified that the victim died from hemorrhaging caused by a four-inch shard of glass that had severed the jugular vein in her neck. Doctor Sturner also testified that strangulation caused by a shoelace tied around the victim's neck, and bruises about her head and face, also contributed to her death.
There were no eyewitnesses to the murder. Several people, however, did observe defendant with the victim both prior to and subsequent to the homicide. Grace Faria, an older woman, testified that she and her boyfriend had been drinking beer in the park where the murder occurred during the late afternoon and evening hours of the day in question. At some point that evening they were joined by Ms. Raymond, the victim. Ms. Faria testified that shortly thereafter, the group was joined by a young, clean-shaven man who seemed to be acquainted with the victim. 1 After about ten minutes, Ms. Faria testified, she and her boyfriend left the park at the Blue Cross/Blue Shield building, leaving defendant and Ms. Raymond alone in the park, except for the presence of an old man sleeping on a bench. Ms. Faria and her boyfriend then walked up to Cathedral Park where they continued their drinking. Shortly thereafter, they headed back to the Blue Cross Park. Upon approaching the park, Ms. Faria testified that she saw defendant on top of Ms. Raymond and surmised that they were making love. 2 The couple therefore did not enter the park, but rather returned to a bar where they had been drinking earlier in the day.
Ms. Debra Kaplan and her husband were also in the area of the Blue Cross park on the night of the murder. They had left their home in Barrington at nine-thirty that evening and had driven into Providence to take in a live show at Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel, a local night spot. Ms. Kaplan testified that she and her husband arrived at Lupo's at about nine-forty-five. When the band took a break, the Kaplans decided to take a walk to check on their new automobile, which was parked on Green Street, near the park. While walking to their car, the Kaplans heard a scream in the vicinity of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building. After checking the car, the Kaplans sat down on the steps of the Blue Cross/Blue Shield Building. Ms. Kaplan testified that from that vantage point she could see into the park; she stated that she observed two figures, one lying on top of the other, with the person on top moving up and down. She also testified that the person on top was wearing white shorts and a white T-shirt and had a closely shaved head. After the Kaplans saw another couple walk into and out of the park, they decided to head back to Lupo's. While on their way back to the night club, the Kaplans heard the sound of breaking glass. They went back to the park where they were met at the entrance by a man (Mr. Clarke) who warned them not to go into the park. Ms. Kaplan testified that they then looked into the park and saw a body on the ground with a person hovering over it screaming for help. That person was defendant, Maurice Adams.
Mr. Jeremiah Ryan was working on the night in question in the Telephone Company building that overlooks the park. Mr. Ryan testified that at approximately eleven o'clock that evening he saw a male wearing a white T-shirt walk to a cement trash receptacle, put his hand into it, remove his hand, and then walk back to the area of the park from which he had come. Mr. Ryan testified further that he saw another man enter the park and then hurry out to the street where he flagged down a passing patrol car. Eventually several police officers arrived and illuminated the scene. Mr. Ryan testified that he was then able to see a body on the ground. He later saw the man wearing the white T-shirt, who had gone to the trash receptacle, led out of the park by the police.
The defendant testified at trial that he had been drinking all day, that he had engaged in sexual activity with the victim, and that he had been with her in the park on the night she was murdered. He denied, however, that he was the one who killed her. His testimony was as follows. He claims that he left Ms. Raymond alive in the park and started to walk home. As he walked, he realized that he was wearing shorts and a shirt but had left a long pair of pants on a park bench. He returned to retrieve them. As he entered the park, he saw Linda Raymond on the ground. He began calling for help and pounding on her chest in an effort to revive her.
After discovering the body, the police summoned the assistant medical examiner, Dr. Edward Murray. Doctor Murray responded to the call, photographed the victim, and had her body removed to the state morgue. Although some preparation of the body and testing were apparently performed by Dr. Murray, the actual autopsy was performed by Dr. Sturner.
The defendant raises several issues upon appeal to this court. Specifically, defendant argues that the trial justice committed error (1) in failing to dismiss the case when it became apparent at trial that the state had not disclosed the existence of a scientific report about an alleged bite mark on the victim's wrist and the existence of a cast impression taken of that bite mark; (2) in failing to grant his motion to dismiss the case pursuant to both Rule 48(b) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure and his state and federal constitutional right to a speedy trial; (3) in permitting Dr. Sturner to testify that marks appearing on the victim's wrist were consistent with bite marks when the doctor could not so testify to a reasonable degree of medical certainty; and (4) in denying his motion to suppress oral statements made by him, tangible evidence seized from him, and evidence of a lineup identification because they were all fruits of an arrest that was not supported by probable cause.
The issue of the state's failure to disclose a scientific report and a tangible object that was the result of a scientific test arises from the existence of a bite mark on the victim's wrist and a cast impression of that mark taken by Dr. Murray.
Defense counsel moved under Rule 16(a)(5) for discovery of all scientific tests and any tangible evidence connected thereto. Pursuant to this discovery motion, the state produced Dr. Sturner's autopsy report. Among the injuries described in the autopsy report was "[a] circular configuration up to 1 1/4 inches in greatest diameter * * * noted in the medial wrist area [showing] intermittent superficial abrasions with minimal vital reaction of a pink-red color and some areas with no vital reaction." The report also indicates that "[t]hree swabs of the left ventral wrist marking [were] saved along with mold of skin." The report findings also include a "circumferential area of ventral wrist consistent with a bitemark."
At trial, the state elicited testimony from Dr. Sturner that a bite mark appeared on the victim's left wrist. Earlier, the state had introduced a photograph of the victim's left wrist. Defense counsel elicited testimony from Detective Donald Kaplan that an impression of defendant's mouth had been taken at the police station. Upon cross-examination of Detective Kaplan, the prosecution attempted to introduce a report prepared by Dr. Murray. Defense counsel objected to the introduction of the report on the ground that it had not been given to him in the preparation of defendant's case. The objection was sustained.
Doctor Murray's report contains a statement that the victim Subsequent to the state's attempt to utilize the report,...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
State v. Armstrong
...in which the bite-mark evidence was held to be inadmissible because the witness was not qualified as a forensic dentist. State v. Adams, 481 A.2d 718 (R.I.1984).See generally C. Torcia, Wharton's Criminal Evidence § 571, at 344, 350, 353-54 n. 4 (14th ed. 1987); P. Giannelli and E. Imwinkel......
-
Howard v. State
...cert denied 434 U.S. 902, 98 S.Ct. 297, 54 L.Ed.2d 188 (1977); People v. Marx, 54 Cal.App.3d 100, 126 Cal.Rptr. 350 (1975); State v. Adams, 481 A.2d 718 (R.I.1984); Bludsworth v. State, 98 Nev. 289, 646 P.2d 558 (1982); Chase v. State, 678 P.2d 1347 (Alaska.Ct.App.1984); Kennedy v. State, 6......
-
Brooks v. State, 98-KA-00322-SCT.
...884 (1992); State v. Routh, 30 Or.App. 901, 568 P.2d 704 (1977); Commonwealth v. Henry, 524 Pa. 135, 569 A.2d 929 (1990); State v. Adams, 481 A.2d 718 (R.I.1984); State v. Jones, 273 S.C. 723, 259 S.E.2d 120 (1979); State v. Cazes, 875 S.W.2d 253 (Tenn. 1994); Spence v. State, 795 S.W.2d 74......
-
State v. Long
...out by the Supreme Court of the United States in Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972); see State v. Adams, R.I., 481 A.2d 718 (1984). The four factors to be considered are these: (1) the length of the delay, (2) the reason for the delay, (3) the assertion of t......