State v. Chartier

• Citation: 619 A.2d 1119
• Decision Date: 09 February 1993
• Docket Number: No. 91-464-C,91-464-C
• Parties: STATE v. Jeffrey R. CHARTIER. A.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Page 1119

619 A.2d 1119

STATE v. Jeffrey R. CHARTIER.

No. 91-464-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Feb. 9, 1993.

James E. O'Neil, Atty. Gen., James Caruolo, Jeffrey Greer, Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.

Richard C. Bicki, Mary June Ciresi, Providence, for defendant.

OPINION

MURRAY, Justice.

This case comes before us on appeal by the defendant, Jeffrey R. Chartier, from his conviction of robbery and conspiracy to rob an employee of a convenience store located in Warwick, Rhode Island. The defendant's appeal raises three issues, two concerning evidence of other criminal acts in which the defendant engaged on the night in question, and one questioning whether the state laid the proper foundation required before attempting to impeach the defendant. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

On April 17, 1989, defendant was in the company of two friends, Joseph C. Jenkins (Jenkins) and Vincent S. Piccoli, Jr. (Piccoli). The defendant and Piccoli were arrested in the early morning hours of April 18, 1989, near Roger Williams Park. In his postarrest statement made while in custody at the Warwick police station, defendant admitted to being a back-seat passenger in a car driven by Jenkins on April 17, 1989. The defendant's statement, handwritten and signed by him, revealed that he, Jenkins, and Piccoli were involved in three separate incidents that evening, each of which will be summarized below.

According to defendant, their adventures that evening began in North Providence where they socialized for a couple of hours at a local drinking establishment and proceeded to Jenkins' house to ingest cocaine. The trio thereafter drove Jenkins' girlfriend's car to a Cumberland Farms convenience store in North Providence. The defendant stated that while he remained in the back seat of the two-door vehicle, Jenkins and Piccoli entered the store, purportedly to purchase a pack of cigarettes. The defendant testified that Piccoli emerged first from the store followed by Jenkins, who "came running back into the car, jumped in the car and took off out of the parking lot." As the car raced away from the store, defendant was informed of what had happened, specifically that Jenkins had "grabbed the money out of the register." The subsequent charge against defendant with respect to this incident (hereinafter, the North Providence incident) was dismissed by the state's attorney pursuant to Rule 48(a) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure.

The defendant testified that he and his cohorts then drove to the Manton Avenue projects where Jenkins purchased crack cocaine. For approximately one hour the trio drove around the Johnston-Scituate area smoking this substance. In the course of their travels Jenkins noticed a woman who was leaving what appeared to be a recently closed store in Johnston. The defendant's statement reveals what their intentions were at this moment:

"So Joey said she must have a lot of money, so we ended up following her on [Route] 295 south into Warwick, Joey talked about punching her in the face and taking her bag, then we all talked about ways to get her to pull over so Joey could get her bag, so he cut in front of her and locked up [his] brakes on Airport Road in [an] attempt to stop her."

The woman they were following, Kathleen Iannacone (Iannacone), collided with the rear portion of the car driven by Jenkins. The defendant, Jenkins, and Piccoli ultimately were indicted by a grand jury on the charges of assault with intent to rob and conspiracy to rob Iannacone (hereinafter, the Iannacone incident).

The last criminal episode in which these three men were involved that evening occurred soon after the Iannacone incident. The defendant admitted in his postarrest statement that while still in Warwick, "we talked about other stores to rob, I said that there was a Cumberland Farms at West Shore and Warwick Ave., next to Fiddlers."

The defendant disclosed that Jenkins drove to the store defendant had suggested, determined that it would be "an easy store to hit," and then went into the store with Piccoli. They appeared soon after, whereupon Jenkins jumped into the car handed Piccoli money to count, and hurriedly drove off. After a highway chase from Warwick to the Providence-Cranston line, two Warwick police officers apprehended defendant and Piccoli. Jenkins managed to escape. The defendant and Piccoli subsequently were indicted on the charges of robbery and conspiracy to rob Salem Mardo (Mardo), the employee of the Cumberland Farms in Warwick (hereinafter, the Mardo robbery).

The defendant was charged as a principal in both the Iannacone incident and the Mardo robbery because he allegedly aided and abetted his confederates in perpetrating these criminal offenses. The two cases against defendant were consolidated for trial. At the close of the state's case, the trial justice granted defendant's motion for judgment of acquittal on both charges relating to the Iannacone incident. On October 5, 1990, a Superior Court jury found defendant guilty on the two charges involving the Mardo robbery. The defendant filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied by the trial justice on October 16, 1990. The defendant thereafter was sentenced to twenty years with ten years to serve. A timely appeal was filed on November 29, 1990.

The defendant raises three issues on appeal. First, defendant asserts that the references to the alleged robbery in North Providence and the attempted robbery of Iannacone as they appeared in defendant's postarrest statement were improperly admitted and unduly prejudiced defendant. The defendant next argues that the trial justice erred in failing to advise the jury of the dispositions of the North Providence incident and the Iannacone incident, namely, the dismissal of the North Providence charge pursuant to Rule 48(a) and the judgment of acquittal on the Iannacone charges. Last, defendant maintains that the state did not lay a proper foundation before offering extrinsic evidence to impeach defendant. We shall address each issue in turn.

I

Prior to trial defense counsel sought to exclude any evidence of the alleged robbery in North Providence through a motion in limine. In so doing, defendant offered two specific reasons for excluding this evidence: (1) there was insufficient evidence to charge defendant with this crime and (2) such evidence was highly prejudicial to defendant. The state retorted that this evidence was admissible pursuant to Rule 404(b) of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence as it proves defendant's knowledge of this act and that there was a plan. The defense counsel then suggested that defendant could not have been part of this "plan" because he learned of the robbery after the fact and it reflected a decision made only by Jenkins after he went inside the convenience store. After weighing the evidence of the North Providence incident against any prejudice it would produce, the trial justice denied defendant's motion in limine. Defense counsel specifically stated her objection on the record that "although it is evidence of other crimes or acts, it is not evidence of other crimes of this particular defendant."

We turn now to the substantive matter of whether evidence of the North Providence incident falls within the ambit of Rule 404(b). Evidence of an accused's bad character or bad acts is generally inadmissible because the potential for creating prejudice in the minds of jurors outweighs its probative value. State v. Santos, 122 R.I. 799, 822-23, 413 A.2d 58, 71 (1980). Additionally evidence that in any way shows or tends to indicate that the accused has committed another crime independent of the crime for which he or she is being prosecuted, even though it may have been a crime of the same nature, may be irrelevant and inadmissible. State v. Colvin, 425 A.2d 508, 511 (R.I.1981); State v. Jalette, 119 R.I. 614, 624, 382 A.2d 526, 531 (1978).

There are numerous exceptions, however, to this exclusionary rule, as set forth in Rule 404(b) and cited with approval by this court. In State v. Colangelo, 55 R.I. 170, 179 A. 147 (1935), we held that evidence of other acts and conduct of the defendant at different times may be admissible at trial when they are interwoven with the offense for which the defendant is being tried or when they directly support a finding of guilty knowledge in the perpetration of that offense, regardless of whether such acts were of a criminal nature. Id. at 173-74, 179 A. at 149. More recently we stated that,

"evidence of other distinct crimes may be admissible if it tends to establish material elements of the prosecution's case such as the accused's intent, motive, plan, or his participation in a felonious scheme such as a conspiracy. * * * In such situations the jury is apprised of the accused's other criminal activity, but the conceded possibility of the prejudice is believed to be outweighed by the validity of the state's purpose in urging its introduction." Jalette, 119 R.I. at 624-25, 382 A.2d at 532.

In this case the introduction of evidence concerning the North Providence incident tends to establish defendant's knowledge of his confederates' objectives in later seeking out and driving to the convenience store in Warwick. Despite defendant's alleged ignorance of the robbery of the North Providence Cumberland Farms, his subsequent discovery of the crime upon his friends' return to the vehicle demonstrates his knowledge and acceptance of the criminal intentions of both Jenkins and Piccoli during the evening. The defendant's knowledge of the North Providence incident is a material factor in determining whether he had the requisite knowledge to have aided and abetted Jenkins and Piccoli in robbing Mardo, and thus whether he was guilty as a principal in the robbery and conspiracy to rob Mardo.

Finally we must consider whether defendant was unduly prejudiced by the references to the North Providence...