Providence
County Superior Court P1/82-1097A Associate Justice Netti C.
Vogel
Christopher R. Bush For State Department of Attorney General
Susan
B. Iannitelli, Esq. For Defendant:
Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and
Indeglia, JJ.
OPINION
Chief
Justice Suttell, for the Court.
The
defendant, Walter Simpson (Simpson or defendant), appeals
from a Superior Court judgment adjudging him to have violated
the terms and conditions of his probation and executing
eighteen years of a twenty-year suspended sentence. This case
came before the Supreme Court pursuant to an order directing
the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in
this appeal should not be summarily decided. After
considering the parties' written and oral submissions and
reviewing the record, we conclude that cause has not been
shown and that this case may be decided without further
briefing or argument. For the reasons set forth herein, we
affirm the decision of the hearing justice.
I
Facts and Procedural History
In
1985, Simpson was convicted of one count of first-degree
sexual assault, which this Court affirmed on appeal. See
State v. Simpson, 520 A.2d 1281, 1282 (R.I. 1987).
Simpson was sentenced to fifty years at the Adult
Correctional Institutions with thirty years to serve and
twenty years suspended with probation. On December 17, 2015,
the state filed a notice of probation violation pursuant to
Rule 32(f) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure.
A three-day violation hearing was held in February 2016.
Below, we summarize the evidence adduced at the hearing.
The
complaining witness, whom we shall refer to as Valerie,
[1]
testified that, on December 14, 2015, she traveled to
Woonsocket for a medical appointment. After the appointment,
she crossed the street to a bus stop to take a bus home.
There, she met a man named "Reggie, "[2] who, as Valerie
testified, asked her if she "wanted to get high with
him." She answered in the affirmative, and the two
proceeded to a nearby park. After about fifteen minutes in
the park, they headed to Diamond Hill Road, where Simpson
lived, because Simpson "didn't want to get high in
the park." About ten to fifteen minutes after leaving
the park, they arrived at Simpson's house, where they
went into an unfinished basement with a dirt floor and a
couple of mattresses in the corner.
Valerie
testified that Simpson "laid one of the mattresses down
on the ground" and then, when she "tried to turn
and walk away, * * * he grabbed [her] and threw [her] * * *
face down[] on the mattress." Simpson then put
Valerie's hands behind her back; and, when she tried to
leave, he told her "that he was a member of the police
force." He then "pulled [her] pants down and put
his penis into [her] vagina." Valerie testified that she
"struggled" but could not get away. She said that
Simpson then "put his penis into [her] mouth" but
that she "kind of like threw up on him a little
bit" so he "inserted his penis" into her
vagina again. Valerie further testified that, "when
[they] went to switch positions, * * * [she] pretended [she]
was going to** * put his penis in [her] mouth, but * * *
instead [she] leaned over him and grabbed [her] bag ** * and
started to run * * *." When Simpson caught her, she
screamed for help. Then "he pushed [her] and he said,
'Fine, go, ' and [she] started to run * * * out of
the basement." She then "called the police because
[Simpson] was following [her] down the street."
Valerie
testified that she told the 911 operator that she "had
been raped and that somebody was chasing [her] down the
street." When the police arrived, they drove her around
to visually identify Simpson's house. The police officers
then searched the location she identified and drove her to
Landmark Hospital.
The
state then introduced as an exhibit a photo array that the
Woonsocket Police Department showed to Valerie on December
14, 2015. Valerie identified Simpson as her attacker and
marked the photo with a statement that she was 75 percent
sure that the photo she identified was accurate. The state
also introduced a recording of Valerie's 911
call.Additionally, the state introduced into evidence
photographs taken by the police of Simpson's basement,
which depicted a basement with two mattresses within it.
Patrolman
Justin Mowry of the Woonsocket Police Department testified
that he responded to a phone call the police department had
received from an unknown female who was screaming and running
down the roadway in the area of Diamond Hill Road and Wood
Avenue. Upon his arrival in the area, Valerie waved him down
and told him she had been assaulted by a man she referred to
only as "Reggie." Officer Mowry testified that
Valerie directed him to the location of the assault, 594
Diamond Hill Road. He also stated that the police were able
to determine that a Walter Simpson, who used
"Reggie" as an alias, resided on the third floor of
that address. Officer Mowry proceeded to investigate the
multifamily dwelling. He observed a dirty basement with two
mattresses in the corner leaned against a pole. He then went
up to the third floor, where Simpson resided, and spoke to
Simpson's girlfriend, who informed him that Simpson was
at school.
Simpson testified on his own behalf. He stated that he lived
at 592 Diamond Hill Road in Woonsocket.[3] At around 3:50
p.m. on December 14, 2015, he left his apartment and went to
the bus stop to catch a bus because he had class at the
Community College of Rhode Island. At the bus stop, Valerie
"was soliciting gentlemen"; one man went with her
to the park across the street, and then he returned to the
bus stop. Valerie then gave Simpson a napkin with her phone
number written thereon. He later discovered that the phone
number was incorrect. The defendant ...