State v. Santiago, No. 2001-428-M.P.

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island
• Writing for the Court: PER CURIAM.
• Citation: 799 A.2d 285
• Parties: STATE v. Anibal SANTIAGO.
• Decision Date: 18 June 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2001-428-M.P.

799 A.2d 285

STATE
v.
Anibal SANTIAGO

No. 2001-428-M.P.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

June 18, 2002.

799 A.2d 286

Present WILLIAMS, C.J., and LEDERBERG, BOURCIER, FLANDERS, and GOLDBERG, JJ

Aaron L. Weisman, Providence, for Plaintiff.

David N. Cicilline, Bristol, for Defendant.

OPINION

PER CURIAM.

This case came before the Court on April 15, 2002, pursuant to an order granting the state's petition for a writ of certiorari and directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this petition should not be summarily decided. After hearing arguments of counsel and revie wing the memoranda submitted by the parties, we are satisfied that cause has not been shown. Accordingly, we shall decide the petition at this time.

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on November 29, 2000, Anibal Santiago (Santiago or defendant), a man serving a suspended sentence with probation on three separate cases,¹ was stopped by the Pawtucket police while operating an unregistered white Chevrolet; he did not have a valid driver's license. Pawtucket police Sergeant Scott MacLaughlin (MacLaughlin),unable to view the interior of the vehicle due to its tinted windows, approached the vehicle from the passenger side, and noted that the vehicle was occupied by three men. The defendant was driving and was accompanied by a front-seat passenger and a man in the back seat. Upon approaching the passenger window, MacLaughlin asked the passengers to show their hands. The defendant and the passenger in the front

799 A.2d 287

seat complied, but the passenger in the back seat appeared to be asleep and did not respond. MacLaughlin made his way around the front of the vehicle and opened the driver's door with the intention of asking defendant to step out of the vehicle. As he did so, the front-seat passenger "reached towards the middle of the front seat [and] with both hands reached underneath the seat, and started ripping out an article from underneath the seat." MacLaughlin testified that at this point, "Mr. Santiago reached over as well" and he immediately pulled defendant from the vehicle. According to MacLaughlin, defendant and the passenger were reaching over toward the middle of the vehicle "[r]ight on the hump * * *." MacLaughlin testified that he then observed an empty plastic baggy floating towards the floor of the vehicle. As MacLaughlin pulled defendant from the vehicle, the front-seat passenger's door flew open and the passenger fled the vehicle. A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed two fully loaded .22-caliber revolvers partially concealed in a knit cap underneath the seat in the area where the passenger and the defendant had reached. According to the officer, if one looked straight down on the floor of the vehicle, the butt of one weapon could be seen. It was stip ulated at trial that defendant did not have a permit to carry a weapon

At the conclusion of the evidence, the hearing justice declared that "[t]here is not a scintilla of evidence * * * that suggest[s] that * * * Mr. Santiago * * * knew that the weapon was there" or "that he even knew that anything was under the seat." Recognizing that the applicable serve and eight suspended with probation and one year suspended, respectively. On January 8, 2002, defendant was declared a violator of this sentence but was continued on the same.standard of proof was not "beyond a reasonable...