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State v. Werner6/5/2003
back inside the building and appeared shortly thereafter at the front door. He was ordered outside by Sgt. Appollonio. As he emerged from the building, Werner was handcuffed and taken into custody.
The West Warwick police, several hours later, sought and obtained a search warrant authorizing the search of Apartment 14B in the Brookside Avenue complex. The main door of the apartment building led into a hallway. Apartment 14B was to the right of the hallway; a vacant apartment numbered 14A was straight ahead. Several detectives who participated in the search testified at the trial. They described Apartment 14B as fully furnished, with appliances, furniture, and a television set. Detective Santos seized photographs of Werner holding a shotgun. These photographs were on the refrigerator in the apartment. Other detectives seized a shotgun shell box containing one shotgun shell; six more shotgun shells -- five live and one spent -- were found under the couch, along with a shotgun cleaning kit. Detective O'Connell entered the vacant apartment, the door to which was partially open. From the door, he was able to see a large green plastic bag similar to that described by the witnesses to the shooting. The detective theorized that the drop ceiling in the kitchen might be a suitable hiding place for a weapon. He removed one of the ceiling tiles and saw a Mossberg pump-action shotgun. Later Det. Norman Frenette of the West Warwick Bureau of Criminal Identification processed the gun for fingerprints. He was unable to achieve a match because of the poor quality of the single, partial print that he was able to remove. At the trial, Commander Gerald Gorman of the West Warwick police testified that he was a firearms expert and had examined the shotgun. He testified that the weapon had been altered significantly to have homemade features. He concluded that the shotgun was the same firearm as that which Werner held in the photographs seized from Apartment 14B. He also expressed the opinion that no other guns identical to the gun seized in the vacant apartment by Det. O'Connell existed anywhere. McGonigle also positively identified the weapon as the one that had been pointed at him outside Johnny Ray's just before the shooting. Another witness, whose name was Kenneth Gammon, also testified at the trial and, with some reluctance, identified the weapon as one that he had seen in Werner's apartment on May 14, 1988.
To support his appeal, defendant has raised eight issues and numerous subissues. These issues will be considered in the order of their significance to this opinion. Further facts will be supplied as may be necessary to deal with these issues.
I. The Motion to Dismiss Pursuant to an Alleged Violation of the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act
It is undisputed that Rhode Island is a signatory to the Interstate Agreement on Detainers Act (IADA or act) which has been codified as G.L. 1956 chapter 13 of title 13. This act constitutes a compact among a number of participating states, including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It has been approved by Congress and is designed to expedite the trial of criminal charges pending in one state (the receiving state) while the person is incarcerated in another state (the sending state). The purpose of this compact has been outlined in United States v. Mauro, 436 U.S. 340, 343-44, 98 S.Ct. 1834, 1839, 56 L.Ed.2d 329, 336 (1978). We have recognized that the purpose of this act is "encouraging and facilitating the expeditious disposition of charges pending against that prisoner in another jurisdiction." State v. Clifton, 777 A.2d 1272, 1279 (R.I. 2001). We also held in Clifton that we employ a de novo standard in reviewing the denial of a defendant
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Rhode Island DUI Attorneys
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