State v. Cotty

• Decision Date: 12 June 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2002-691-C.A.,2002-691-C.A.
• Citation: 899 A.2d 482
• Parties: STATE v. Rafael COTTY.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

899 A.2d 482

STATE v. Rafael COTTY.

No. 2002-691-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 12, 2006.

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Jane M. McSoley, Esq., Providence, for Plaintiff.

Janice M. Weisfeld, Esq., Providence, for Defendant.

Present: WILLIAMS, C.J., GOLDBERG, FLAHERTY, SUTTELL, and ROBINSON, JJ.

OPINION

Introduction

Justice ROBINSON for the Court.

On March 19, 2001, the defendant, Rafael Cotty, was charged by indictment with murdering Bettie Ann Senerchia in violation of G.L.1956 § 11-23-1. After a hearing on pretrial motions, a jury trial commenced on May 8, 2002, at the conclusion of which the jury found the defendant guilty of second-degree murder. A motion for a judgment of acquittal, on which the trial justice had earlier reserved ruling, was heard and denied on June 7, 2002. The defendant's motion for a new trial was denied on June 20, 2002; and, on September 13, 2002, the trial justice sentenced the defendant to life imprisonment. A timely notice of appeal was filed on the defendant's behalf.

On appeal, defendant contends that the trial justice committed four specific errors (relating to certain evidentiary rulings and to the jury instructions), which purported errors had the effect of (a) preventing him from being able to fully present evidence in support of his theory of self-defense and (b) preventing the jury from considering the self-defense theory in the light of proper jury instructions.

With respect to the alleged evidentiary errors, defendant specifically argues (1) that his defense of self-defense warranted the admission of evidence of certain prior violent acts committed by the victim; and (2) that his defense of self-defense warranted the admission of evidence of the victim's reputation for becoming intoxicated and combative.

With respect to the trial justice's alleged errors in charging the jury, defendant argues (1) that the trial justice's refusal to instruct the jury as to the relevance of the record evidence of the victim's combative and aggressive character constituted clear error; and (2) that the trial justice erroneously shifted the burden of proving self-defense to defendant.

For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the judgment of conviction.

Facts and Travel

In September of 2000, Bettie Ann Senerchia and her husband, Vincenzo, lived in the first-floor apartment of a three-story building located at 48 Francis Avenue in Cranston, Rhode Island. The Senerchias' daughter, Crystal, was engaged to defendant and was living with him in the third-floor apartment of the same building. The second-floor apartment was occupied by Maria and Abel Clemente and their two sons.

Mr. and Mrs. Senerchia had developed a close relationship with defendant over the three-and-a-half-year period during which he had been living with Crystal. In fact, defendant considered Crystal's parents to be his parents, referring to them as "Mom" and "Dad." Crystal Senerchia testified at trial that defendant was especially close to her mother, whom he loved, and with whom he got along well, except for certain occasions when Mrs. Senerchia would argue with Crystal.

Although Crystal testified that she had a "very good relationship" with her mother, she acknowledged that Mrs. Senerchia was an alcoholic and that she became "verbally mean" when she was drinking. In addition, Crystal testified that other people who knew her mother were aware that she drank and knew that it was best to avoid her when she became intoxicated because she had a tendency to pick fights on those occasions.

Mr. Senerchia testified that his marriage to Mrs. Senerchia was not without friction; and he acknowledged, albeit more reluctantly than did his daughter, that Bettie's drinking habits were sometimes the subject of arguments between them.¹ Mr. Senerchia further testified that he gambled regularly and that his penchant for gambling was another source of interspousal tension. Crystal and Mr. Senerchia both testified that Bettie was under a doctor's care for some "mental health issues" including depression and anxiety, and Mr. Senerchia stated that Mrs. Senerchia drank a little more than usual when she was depressed.

On September 12, 2000, Mrs. Senerchia's stepfather passed away, after which she began drinking more to help deal with her depression. During that period, an incident occurred during which Mrs. Senerchia entered the bedroom where Mr. Senerchia was lying down watching television, and she showed him a newly-purchased knife by holding it up above her head. Although Mr. Senerchia testified that Mrs. Senerchia did not threaten him with the knife, Crystal testified that she removed all of the knives from her parents' apartment following this incident. Moreover, Mr. Senerchia and Crystal became so concerned about Mrs. Senerchia's drinking after her stepfather's death that, on September 17, 2000, they sent her to the detoxification unit of Roger Williams Hospital, where she stayed until September 19 or 20, 2000.²

On Wednesday, September 27, 2000, Mr. Senerchia went to Lincoln Downs, a racetrack in Lincoln, Rhode Island, where he stayed until closing time. He testified that he had been "losing some good money" and that he left that gambling establishment. He further testified that, when he called Mrs. Senerchia, she told him not to come home and hung up. Mr. Senerchia then proceeded to drive to Foxwoods Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, where he stayed until Thursday evening.

Mr. Senerchia spent the night of Thursday, September 28, at the third-floor apartment shared by Crystal and defendant, because he wanted to avoid an argument with Mrs. Senerchia about his gambling losses. The next morning, undeterred by those losses, Mr. Senerchia decided to return to Lincoln Downs to "try and make [his] money back." He testified that he returned home between 7:30 and 8 p.m. on Friday, September 29. Once again anxious to avoid an argument with his wife, he went back to the third-floor apartment. He further testified that Crystal was out doing errands, but that defendant let him into the apartment.

Crystal testified that, when she and defendant returned home from working at their jobs as flaggers at a construction site that Friday evening, she spoke on the telephone with her mother, who said that she felt ill. Crystal said that, after the telephone conversation with her mother, she left the house to do some errands, while defendant stayed at home. Crystal further testified that she returned home at around 9 p.m., by which time her father had returned from the racetrack and was at her apartment. Approximately thirty minutes later, Mrs. Senerchia went halfway up the stairs towards the third-floor apartment; she was carrying a plate of food, and she called out to Crystal to come and get the food and bring it to Mr. Senerchia, along with a message that she loved him. Crystal testified that she could tell her mother had been drinking because she appeared "mellow."

At some point between 9:30 and 10 p.m., Mr. Senerchia asked defendant to go downstairs to his apartment and look in his bedroom for some stool samples that he needed to give to his doctor. Mr. Senerchia testified that defendant came back upstairs when he could not locate the samples, but that, after being given further instructions as to where to look, he went back downstairs in another attempt to locate the samples. While defendant was downstairs the second time, Crystal telephoned her mother to find out what was taking defendant so long; she stated that her mother still sounded mellow and calm at that point. When defendant returned to the third-floor apartment, he had retrieved two of the three stool samples.

Crystal testified that she and defendant then had an argument because she had wanted him to eat dinner with her since it was getting late and they had to work the following morning, but defendant chose to take a shower instead. She testified further that she became increasingly upset because defendant stayed in the shower for forty-five minutes. The argument finally escalated to the point where Crystal told defendant that it was "over" between them, and she packed a few necessities and went out to her car with the stated intention of spending the night at her cousin's house. While the argument was taking place, Mr. Senerchia was in the spare bedroom, sleeping.

Instead of driving to her cousin's house, Crystal decided to park her car in a parking lot about 100 feet from her building. She did so because she felt that she would calm down there and would eventually go back into her apartment so that she and defendant could go to work together the following morning. After she had "cried [her] eyes out" for about fifteen minutes, Crystal then fell asleep in the car. She testified that she neither heard nor saw anything unusual while she was in the car.

Crystal was awakened by defendant banging on her car window in an "erratic, crazy, nervous" manner while yelling that her mother was dead. Crystal testified that she then jumped out of the car and ran to her parents' apartment and into her father's bedroom to use the phone. Upon finding that phone unplugged, however, she ran upstairs to her own apartment to call 911. Crystal testified that, when she was in her parents' apartment, she caught a glimpse of her mother sprawled out on the floor. The defendant followed closely behind Crystal as she went into the house. When she asked him what had happened, he responded by saying, "I went to your mother's aid." On the way back downstairs after calling 911, Crystal saw her second-floor neighbors, Abel Clemente and his two sons, who opened their door and asked her what was going on. Crystal testified that she told them that her mother was dead.

Mr. Senerchia testified that, at some point in time after he had fallen asleep in Crystal's spare bedroom, he was awakened by the sound of loud banging coming up the stairs. He then arose from the bed and saw defendant and asked him what...