State v. Cipriano
| Decision Date | 27 June 2011 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 2009–56–C.A.,2008–60–C.A.,s. 2009–56–C.A. |
| Citation | 21 A.3d 408 |
| Parties | STATEv.Norman CIPRIANO, Jr.Statev.Jamie Bryant. |
| Court | Rhode Island Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Virginia McGinn, Department of Attorney General, for State of Rhode Island.Glen R. Whitehead, Esq., Providence, for Defendant Cipriano.Janice Weisfeld, Office of the Public Defender, for Defendant Bryant.Present: SUTTELL, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, ROBINSON, and INDEGLIA, JJ.
The defendants, Norman Cipriano, Jr., and Jamie Bryant, appeal from Superior Court judgments of conviction for receiving stolen goods with a value in excess of $500 and for conspiring to commit larceny. On appeal, the defendants argue that (1) the trial justice erred in denying their motions for acquittal; and (2) the trial justice erred in his jury instructions concerning inferences and reasonable doubt. Mr. Cipriano additionally argues that (1) the trial justice erred in refusing to pass the case after a witness testified to seeing Mr. Cipriano on a prison bus; and (2) the trial justice erred in denying his motion for a new trial. For the reasons set forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgments of the Superior Court.
In June 2005, Mr. Cipriano and Ms. Bryant each was charged with: (1) fraudulently receiving stolen goods on or about April 15, 2005, including “perfumes and various pharmacy products, belonging to CVS, Brook's [Pharmacy,] and Bath & Body Works,” with a value exceeding $500, in violation of G.L.1956 §§ 11–41–2 and 11–41–5; and (2) conspiring together with one Diane Nicoletti, between March 1, 2005 and April 15, 2005, to commit larceny over $500, in violation of G.L.1956 § 11–1–6. The defendants were tried together before a jury in Superior Court in April 2007. The relevant evidence adduced at trial is set forth below.
In 2004 and 2005, Diane Nicoletti was shoplifting “[t]wo or three times daily” from Brooks Pharmacy, CVS, Walgreens, the Warwick Mall, and other malls, and she was selling the stolen items to support her drug habit. She testified that she shoplifted with Joseph Pari, Kimberly Carroll, and Gina Russo.1 Ms. Nicoletti testified that around this time, Mr. Pari introduced her to Mr. Cipriano, and that Mr. Cipriano agreed to buy her stolen merchandise. She testified that in 2005, she met with Mr. Cipriano at least four times a week at either his house, his sports card shop, or outside his mother's house, to sell her stolen products. Ms. Nicoletti testified that she stole over-the-counter medications, including Zantac, Claritin, and Phazyme, as well as perfumes, lotions, and DVDs. She testified that Mr. Cipriano usually would pay her about a quarter of an item's value and that she occasionally had conversations with him about what to steal to ensure that she stole the items for which she would get the most value. Ms. Nicoletti explained that during this period, she also met and had contact with Mr. Cipriano's girlfriend, Ms. Bryant.
On February 25, 2005, Mark Pyne and Danielle Carolan, employees of a CVS in East Greenwich, became aware of two women in their store acting suspiciously. Mr. Pyne testified that when the women approached the door, the alarm went off; when Mr. Pyne approached the women, they “started kind of jogging, running away,” and Mr. Pyne followed in pursuit. During the chase, the women removed products from their jackets and dropped them on the ground.
On March 2, 2005, Ms. Carolan was working at a CVS in Coventry when she recognized two women in the store as being the same women involved in the East Greenwich incident. Ms. Carolan called the Coventry Police Department, and officers arrived soon thereafter. Upon arrival, Officer Matthew Carlos observed a female, later determined to be Ms. Carroll, removing perfumes from “the inside of her clothes” and putting them back on the store shelves; he seized these items, along with additional bottles of perfume that still were on her person. Meanwhile, Officer Matthew Blair observed another woman, later determined to be Ms. Nicoletti, also taking perfumes and colognes out of her sleeves and pockets; he similarly seized these items from her.
After being taken into custody, Ms. Nicoletti told Officer Blair that she was stealing the items to sell them to a “fence” 2 and that, knowing she had outstanding charges, she would give up this fence if she could avoid going to jail.3 Officer Blair relayed this information to Detective Leo Fox, who met with Ms. Nicoletti on the evening of March 2, 2005. Ms. Nicoletti told Det. Fox about the alleged fencing operation and gave a written statement, detailing her activities. More specifically, Ms. Nicoletti reported that a man named “Norman” was the fence and that he lived in Warwick, had a sports card shop in Warwick, drove a white van, and dated a woman named “Jamie.”
On March 3, 2005, Ms. Nicoletti accompanied Det. Fox and another detective to Warwick to identify Mr. Cipriano's house, his shop, and his mother's house. On the same day, Ms. Nicoletti also signed an informant agreement and entered into a cooperation agreement with the state. The cooperation agreement provided that if Ms. Nicoletti supplied truthful information about the fencing operation, assisted with the investigation, and testified, that in exchange the state would forgo presenting her as a violator on existing probationary sentences, release her on reasonable bail, and consider her cooperation in making its recommendation for sentencing on the March 2, 2005 shoplifting charge.4
Detective Fox testified that after meeting with Ms. Nicoletti, he “independently” verified that “a Norman Cipriano” lived in Warwick, that he owned a business there, and that he drove a white van with the license plate “AY–432.” Detective Fox also spoke with members of the Warwick and West Warwick police departments and it was agreed that the plan was to have Ms. Nicoletti contact Det. Fox the next time that she was going out to shoplift for Mr. Cipriano. During the period from March 16 through April 14, 2005, Det. Fox and Ms. Nicoletti communicated by telephone; Det. Fox acknowledged that there were “gaps” when they lost contact. Ms. Nicoletti testified that she was stealing during these gaps. Nevertheless, on April 14, 2005, Ms. Nicoletti called Det. Fox and told him that she was going out with Ms. Russo and Ms. Bryant in a white Dodge Stratus, with the license plate “NN–820,” to steal from the Warwick Mall and from Brooks pharmacies in Coventry. Detective Fox “ran” the license plate “NN–820” and determined that a car with that plate number was registered to Ms. Bryant.
Around 7 p.m., on April 14, 2005, Warwick police took up surveillance both inside and outside the Warwick Mall; a detective inside the mall soon located Ms. Nicoletti and Ms. Russo. Ms. Nicoletti testified that she and Ms. Russo went to the Bath & Body Works in the mall, where they stole “[q]uite an abundance” of perfumes, including Henri Bendel perfumes. Ms. Nicoletti testified that afterward, they returned to Ms. Bryant's car and had a conversation with Ms. Bryant about what they had done. Meanwhile, Detective Mark Perkins and his partner, Detective Steven Forde, who were outside the mall in an undercover vehicle, observed a white Dodge Stratus bearing the license plate “NN–820,” with “a subject sitting in the * * * driver's seat.” Detective Perkins testified that he and Det. Forde then observed two females leave the mall and enter this vehicle, and the detectives watched the vehicle drive away.
The police surveillance team proceeded to follow the vehicle for the rest of the evening. Sergeant Michael Forde, Detective John Toussaint, Det. Perkins, and Det. Forde all followed the vehicle from the Warwick Mall to a CVS on Providence Street in West Warwick, where it arrived at 7:28 p.m. Sergeant Forde observed two females exit the vehicle and enter the store. After “five or ten minutes,” the females left the store and returned to the car. The police then followed the vehicle as it went to a CVS located on Main Street in West Warwick, arriving at 7:40 p.m. Detective Perkins testified that two of the three people again exited the car and went into the store, where they remained for approximately ten minutes before returning to the same car. The surveillance team then followed the vehicle as it went to another CVS on Main Street in West Warwick, arriving at 7:55 p.m. Detective Perkins testified that once again he observed the driver remain in the car while two females exited the car, entered the store, and then returned to the vehicle after “a couple of minutes.”
Ms. Nicoletti testified that, on April 14, 2005, she stole products, including Zantac, Claritin, Phazyme, and Senokot, from two of the three CVS stores. She testified that she did not steal from one of the CVS stores because she “got nervous.” Ms. Nicoletti further testified that after she and Ms. Russo stole from the stores, they would return to the car and “would say whether or not [they] did well in the store.”
Detective Perkins testified that after the vehicle left the CVS on Main Street in West Warwick, it drove across the street to a Honey Dew Donuts parking lot. Ms. Nicoletti then called Det. Fox and reported that she was going to one more store—the Brooks Pharmacy in Coventry. Detective Fox accordingly directed certain officers to pick up surveillance and arranged for others to set up surveillance at Mr. Cipriano's home. Detective Michael Dicomitis testified that he followed the car from the Honey Dew Donuts to the Brooks Pharmacy in Coventry, where he observed two females exit the vehicle and enter the store. Meanwhile, Det. Fox had gone to the Brooks Pharmacy and had spoken with its manager, Diane Tetreault. With Ms. Tetreault's permission, Det. Fox had entered the manager's booth. Detective Fox testified that, from the manager's booth, he observed Ms. Nicoletti and Ms. Russo enter the store, and he saw Ms....
To continue reading
Request your trial
- Ballard v. Brian Calder Kerr, M.D., Silk Touch Laser, LLP
- State v. Delestre
- State v. Robat
- State v. Lopez