Providence County Superior Court (P1/12-1584A) Associate
Justice Netti C. Vogel
For
State: Virginia M. McGinn Department of Attorney General
For
Defendant: Kara J. Maguire Office of the Public Defender
Present: Suttell, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Robinson, and
Indeglia, JJ.
OPINION
PAUL
A. SUTTELL CHIEF JUSTICE
The
defendant, Matthew Gumkowski (defendant or Gumkowski), was
found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder and
first-degree arson. Gumkowski appeals his conviction on the
basis of the denial of his motion for a new trial because, he
argues, the weight of the evidence does not support the
jury's verdict. After considering the parties'
written and oral submissions and reviewing the record, we
hold that the trial justice was not clearly wrong to deny the
defendant's motion for a new trial. For the reasons set
forth in this opinion, we affirm the judgment of the Superior
Court.
I
Facts and Procedural History
On May
11, 2011, Michael DiRaimo's throat was slashed and his
dwelling burned. On May 25, 2012, defendant was charged by
indictment with murder and arson. A jury trial was held over
three days in June 2016. At trial, the state presented
testimony from six individuals. The testimony revealed the
following.
On May
11, 2011, at 10:01 p.m., the fire department was called to 39
Sophia Street in Providence. Sean Reddy, who was an arson
investigator in the Providence fire department, arrived at
the scene at about 10:30 p.m. Reddy responded to that address
to conduct "an origin cause investigation to the
fire." Upon viewing the interior of the burned
structure, he observed a "male deceased victim lying on
the floor." The victim was positioned face down. In
accordance with protocol, the Office of the State Fire
Marshal and the Office of the Medical Examiner were notified.
As part
of his investigation, Reddy began "removing [the] debris
from the fire scene[.]" During that process, Reddy
noticed a laceration on the victim's neck and a
"substantial amount of blood" underneath him. At
that point, Reddy "immediately stop[ped, ] * * * removed
[himself] from the scene[, ] and made the appropriate
notifications to make sure everyone was aware of what [he]
just observed[.]" Reddy testified that the victim's
throat was slashed from right to left, "almost a
complete[] 360 around his neck." With respect to the
fire, Reddy classified it as "an incendiary arson fire[,
]" having two separate points of origin.
Alexander
Chirkov, M.D. was the acting Chief Medical Examiner for Rhode
Island at the time of trial; he was an assistant medical
examiner in 2011. He testified that on May 12, 2011, he was
present at the autopsy of an individual identified as Michael
DiRaimo.[1] The post-mortem examination revealed that
DiRaimo was a white male, about forty-one years of age, who
was "covered with soot[, ] and [there was] evidence of
first[, ] second[, ] and third degree burn
[sic]" over his entire body. The interior of
his neck was cut, and he had two four-centimeter puncture
wounds on the palm of his right hand. DiRaimo's neck
wound was a twelve-inch "cut wound on [the] interior
neck from right to left, up to the anterior neck to the
spinal vertebrae. * * * [I]n depth we're talking about
[the] entire thickness of the anterior neck." The wound
dissected the victim's jugular vein, trachea,
[2] and
carotid artery. Doctor Chirkov testified that the wounds on
the victim's hand were "classified as defensive
wound[s] where the person tried to protect himself using his
hands."
The
autopsy also disclosed that there was no evidence of smoke
inhalation, soot, or ashes in DiRaimo's throat, and that
carbon dioxide levels in his blood were less than 0.1
percent-an amount consistent with a chronic smoker. Doctor
Chirkov testified that, to a reasonable degree of medical
certainty, the cause of DiRaimo's death was blood loss
due to the wound to his neck. Doctor Chirkov testified that
the manner of DiRaimo's death was homicide.
Detective
Kenneth Court of the Providence police department testified
that on May 11, 2011, he responded to 39 Sophia Street to
investigate DiRaimo's death. Detective Court testified
that there were no eyewitness accounts of either the arson or
the homicide. Further, Det. Court testified that, to his
knowledge, no murder weapon was found and defendant's DNA
was not found at the crime scene. During his search for a
suspect following the murder, Det. Court requested the
victim's cell-phone records-phone calls, text messages,
and cell-tower location information-for the period from April
16, 2011, to his death on May 11, 2011. A review of the
victim's phone records revealed text and call
communications between DiRaimo's cell-phone number and
Gumkowski's cell-phone number. The trial justice
permitted both the full call and text-message records between
DiRaimo's phone and anyone with whom he was in contact,
as well as an "outline" of all text messages and
phone calls sent and received exclusively between defendant
and DiRaimo from April 16 through May 11 to be admitted into
evidence as full exhibits.[3]
Detective
Court testified that DiRaimo's phone records show that
the "vast majority" of DiRaimo's communications
with Gumkowski were between May 10 and May 11, the day of the
fire and homicide. The text message history portrayed a
relationship between DiRaimo and defendant involving drugs
and sex-with DiRaimo supplying the drugs in exchange for
Gumkowski's sexual favors. Further, while DiRaimo
occasionally referenced their sexual relationship in text
messages, Gumkowski's texts to DiRaimo reveal that
Gumkowski was concerned about the information disclosed in
the messages. The day before DiRaimo was killed, Gumkowski
objected to DiRaimo commenting by text message about their
planned sex-for-drugs exchange; in response to Gumkowski
asking DiRaimo if he still had "the 4 blue & 20[,
]" DiRaimo confirmed, "Yes u got ur hands and mouth
right lol[, ]" but Gumkowski objected to DiRaimo's
sexual reference, exclaiming, "dont write that shit
mikey what if sum1 read ur phone!!"
A text
message conversation that lasted from the evening before the
homicide until the early morning on the day of the murder
implied that a planned exchange between DiRaimo and Gumkowski
had gone awry. Portions of that conversation are as follows,
based upon the records of DiRaimo's cell phone provided
by his cell-phone provider, Metro PCS.[4], [5]
-
Date/Time
|
From
|
To
|
Message
|
5/10/2011 6:35 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
I just talked 2 him he wants 2 know if u will buy 8
of them and i buy 4 of them he wont come all the
way down here 4 less than that and he cant be here
till 930
|
5/10/2011 6:35 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
Thats fine
|
* * *5
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/10/2011 8:39 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
U want me 2 park around?
|
5/10/2011 8:39 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Yes like last time not in driveway
|
5/10/2011 8:40 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
K
|
5/10/2011 9:07 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Ur a piece of shit u robed me and i got 2 pay 4
Them now
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/10/2011 9:23 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Ur a crackhead u piece of fucking shit i will get u
i got 2 pay 4 that i know where u work and 4 who
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/10/2011 9:32 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
If u dont answer me I will call u all nite
|
5/10/2011 9:35 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
If u dont answer me I will call u all nite
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/10/2011 9:41 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Call me
|
5/10/2011 9:43 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
I have been 2 ur new house be4
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/10/201110:34 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
U mad @ me?
|
5/10/201110:43 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
Hey u home? Im gunna cum by wit the loot 4 the
blueberrys
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/11/20111:26 a.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Fuck u
|
5/11/20111:29 a.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
I said sorry mikey!!! Ill. cum c u 2marro I go the
$ 4 u!!
|
5/11/20111:31 a.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Dont bother after what u did 2 me i will never
bother with u u do that 2 me i dont trust u i will
pay the guy why would u do that 2 me
|
Nonetheless,
several hours later, around noon on May 11, 2011, DiRaimo
reached out to Gumkowski about meeting for payment and
whether Gumkowski wanted "the other 7 [pills]."
Around that same time, Gumkowski also agreed to give DiRaimo
a ride to West Warwick:
-
5/11/201112:00 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
K do u want the other 7 i showed u cause i have
them i sent u a pic
|
5/11/201112:00 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
U want 2 meet me in w warwick at 4.30
|
5/11/201112:02 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
Ok
|
5/11/201112:03 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Ok what u want the 7 more or ok u will meet me at
shell at 4.3o or both
|
5/11/201112:04 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
Both & why @ shell?
|
5/11/201112:04 p.m.
|
Gumkowski
|
DiRaimo
|
U need a ride home?
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
* * *
|
5/11/20111:29 p.m.
|
DiRaimo
|
Gumkowski
|
Matt i am going 2 be home so call me when u can
come here i can ride back 2 west warwick with u
later
|