State v. Gautier

• Decision Date: 12 April 2005
• Docket Number: No. 2004-165-C.A.,2004-165-C.A.
• Citation: 871 A.2d 347
• Parties: STATE v. Jacques GAUTIER.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

871 A.2d 347

STATE v. Jacques GAUTIER.

No. 2004-165-C.A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

April 12, 2005.

Aaron L. Weisman, Providence, for Plaintiff.

Paula Lynch, East Greenwich, for Defendant.

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

OPINION

FLAHERTY, Justice.

In this case, we decide whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel bars prosecution of the defendant, Jacques Gautier, for the brutal 1998 slaying of Jeffrey Indellicati, after a probation-violation hearing in which a justice of the Superior Court made a finding that he "was not satisfied the State met its burden [in proving] that he did murder [the victim]." This marks the second time in the progression of this case that the parties have sought review before this Court. In light of our previous decision in State v. Gautier, 774 A.2d 882 (R.I.2001) (Gautier I), we hold that collateral estoppel does not mandate dismissal of the criminal indictment pending against the defendant. In addition, considering our holdings that have redefined and clarified the role of a hearing justice sitting in a probation-revocation proceeding, we expressly overrule and abrogate our 1991 decision in State v. Chase, 588 A.2d 120 (R.I.1991), insofar as it is inconsistent with the principles enunciated in this opinion.

Facts and History

Although the facts of this case have been set forth in Gautier I, we will recite yet again those facts necessary to decide this case. On July 21, 1998, defendant pleaded nolo contendere to charges of delivery of cocaine and conspiracy to deliver cocaine. On each count, he was sentenced to ten years at the Adult Correctional Institutions, twenty-one days to serve, with the remainder of the term suspended, with probation. The defendant's probationary term was short-lived, however. Less than three months later, on October 6, 1998, plaintiff was arrested by the Providence police on a charge that he had murdered his wife's seventeen-year-old boyfriend, Jeffrey Indellicati, after a late-night dispute inside his wife's home in Providence.

Pursuant to Rule 32(f) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure,¹ defendant was presented to the Superior Court as an alleged violator of his probation. A violation hearing was held on November 12 and 20, 1998, during which the court heard testimony from five witnesses. Three of those witnesses, defendant's wife Minerva Gautier (Minerva), Providence Police Officer Anthony Texiera, Jr., and Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, testified on behalf of the state.

Minerva testified that in the early morning hours of October 6, 1998, she was awakened in her home by noise emanating from the kitchen. After entering the kitchen to investigate, she discovered defendant, who apparently had entered the home through a nearby window. According to Minerva, she and defendant began to argue, and the volume of their argument also awakened Indellicati, who had been sleeping in the nearby bedroom. Indellicati entered the kitchen and a physical altercation began between the two men. As the fight escalated, Minerva testified, defendant grabbed a knife from a kitchen drawer and began stabbing Indellicati. The fight moved from the kitchen to the bathroom, where defendant allegedly stabbed a helpless Indellicati as he lay on the floor. Minerva testified that she unsuccessfully attempted to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the victim, but that defendant ordered her at knifepoint to get the couple's son and drive them to his sister's apartment at 53 Lancashire Street.

Next, Officer Anthony Texiera, Jr. testified that on the morning after the slaying, he received information that a murder had taken place at 30 Barbara Street, and that a beige Honda with tinted windows, a cracked windshield, and Florida license plates, had been spotted in the area. By chance, Texiera recognized the vehicle description from a previous encounter with Minerva and defendant. As a result, the officer proceeded to Lancashire Street, where he saw the beige Honda pull into a driveway. Texiera immediately positioned his cruiser behind the vehicle and ordered its operator out of the car. The operator did not heed the officer's demands; instead he placed the vehicle in reverse and proceeded to drive off through side yards and over curbing in an attempt to flee. The officer gave chase, however, and eventually apprehended the driver about a block away. Texiera then identified the driver of the vehicle as Jacques Gautier. He also observed blood in the interior of the car and on defendant, as well as a fresh cut on Gautier's hand.

The state's third witness was Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Laposata, who testified that her autopsy of the victim revealed sixty-eight separate stab wounds. She testified that her examination of the victim's remains indicated that he had received wounds from two different knives, one of which was serrated. Doctor Laposata added that two knives seized from the scene were consistent with the victim's wounds.

The defendant presented two witnesses during the hearing. The defendant's sister, Brandy Jimenez, testified that she was awakened on the night in question by defendant and Minerva, who told her that Indellicati had been stabbed and that she should call an ambulance. Jimenez testified that she overhead her brother tell Minerva, "I'm going to get blamed for this," at which point Minerva responded, "I'll tell them I did it." The defendant's second witness was fourteen-year-old Herminio Asencio, whose testimony was offered to substantiate defendant's assertion that he was living at 30 Barbara Street and therefore had a right to be in the apartment on the night in question.

At the close of testimony, the hearing justice determined that, based on the state's Rule 32(f) notice, which alleged only the offense of murder as a ground for the revocation of defendant's probation, Gautier was not a violator. The hearing justice stated:

"I made a factual finding [that] I did not believe the State's witness that [defendant] in fact caused the death or that he murdered — and that was the notice that was given to the defendant — that he murdered [Indellicati]. * * * I'm called upon to make certain findings. The evidence presented to me, as I indicated to you in chambers, I think the 32(f) notice was deficient. Had the 32(f), for example, alerted the defendant to the fact that he was being accused of violating the nine-and-a-half years I believe it was, nine years, ten months of a previously suspended sentence because he beat up his wife or violated a restraining order, that would have been simple. But the 32(f) notice presented to me said that he's a violator because he murdered [Indellicati]. From the evidence presented to me, I was not satisfied the State met its burden [in proving] that he did murder [Indellicati]."

The hearing justice specifically rejected Minerva's testimony and found it "to be somewhat inherently improbable[,]" especially in light of her demeanor in the courtroom. The hearing justice noted that Minerva "displayed absolutely zero emotion from [the] witness stand * * *[,]" and stated "it's my sense she is hiding something. She wasn't completely truthful." In addition, however, the hearing justice stated that a jury would decide the defendant's ultimate guilt or innocence at a subsequent trial on the merits: "I'll let that decision be made by the factfinder of the jury. * * * I made a factual finding [that] I did not believe * * * that he murdered [Indellicati]. How that impacts on the ability to go forward, that's a legal matter that counsel will have to wrestle with."

The state filed a petition for a writ of certiorari, seeking appellate review of the hearing justice's decision. We granted the petition on June 29, 2001. Reiterating our established rule that "the appropriate role of the hearing justice [in a probation-revocation hearing is] to determine `only whether in [the hearing justice's] discretion [the defendant's] conduct on the day in question had been lacking in the required good behavior expected and required by his probationary status[,]'" Gautier I, 774 A.2d at 886-87 (quoting State v. Znosko, 755 A.2d 832, 834-35 (R.I.2000)), and not "to determine the validity of the specific charge that formed the basis of the violation [,]" id., we held that the hearing justice had "misconceived his role" at the probation-revocation hearing by rendering a factual conclusion relative to the defendant's culpability for the underlying charge. Id. at 886.

Although we noted that the Rule 32(f) notice provided by the state was lacking, in that the state could have enumerated several other grounds besides the murder on which to support the revocation of defendant's probationary status, we reasoned that the trial justice had sufficient evidence before him from which to conclude that Gautier had violated his probation. This evidence established defendant's presence at the scene of the brutal slaying, his failure to notify the police after fleeing the scene, and his flight from Officer Texiera upon being ordered out of his vehicle on the morning of his arrest. These facts alone, we opined, provided the trial justice with more than enough information from which to conclude that plaintiff's conduct on the day in question "had been lacking in the required good behavior expected and required by his probationary status." Id. at 887 (quoting Znosko, 755 A.2d at 834-35). Thus, we held that the trial justice's review of the evidence presented both exceeded the scope of the court's duty in a probation-revocation hearing and incorrectly assessed defendant's conduct in light of the clear facts presented by the state.

In addition, we specifically deemed an error of law the hearing justice's statement that, in spite of his factual determination that defendant did not commit the murder, a jury would be permitted to formally adjudge defendant's guilt or innocence on that charge...