Summary
The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed the denial of Adrian Bustamante's motion under Superior Court Rule of Criminal Procedure 35 to reduce his sentence. The court held that Bustamante failed to show that his sentence of life without parole for murder was unjustified or grossly disparate, emphasizing the brutality of the offense and his role in encouraging a twelve-year-old to participate.
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Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the Superior Court trial justice abused his discretion by denying Bustamante's Rule 35 motion to reduce his life-without-parole sentence.
- Whether Bustamante demonstrated that his sentence was without justification or grossly disparate from sentences imposed for similar offenses.
Holdings
- A Rule 35 motion to reduce a sentence is essentially a plea for leniency, and the decision whether to grant it rests within the trial justice's discretion when the sentence is allegedly unduly severe because of reflection or changed circumstances.
- Bustamante failed to show that his sentence was without justification or grossly disparate from sentences imposed for similar offenses; the trial justice therefore did not abuse his discretion in denying the Rule 35 motion.
Key quotations
“A motion to reduce a sentence under [Supr.R.Crim.P.] 35 is essentially a plea for leniency.” (1040)
“We will interfere with the trial justice's discretion in sentencing proceedings only in rare circumstances, when he or she "has imposed a sentence that is without justification and is grossly disparate from other sentences generally imposed for similar offenses."” (1040)
“The defendant has failed to meet his burden of showing that the sentence was completely without justification or grossly disparate from like offenses.” (1040)
Factual background
Bustamante participated in a violent attack on John Casserly after Casserly was accused of taking or losing money intended to purchase cocaine. During the attack, Bustamante repeatedly struck Casserly with a beer bottle and flashlight and stabbed him in the legs while Casserly pleaded for help. Bustamante also encouraged a twelve-year-old boy to stab Casserly's body. A jury convicted Bustamante of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and found that the murder involved torture and aggravated battery.
Procedural history
Bustamante was convicted by a jury of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and received life without parole for murder and a concurrent ten-year sentence for conspiracy. After the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed his convictions and previously determined that the life-without-parole sentence was appropriate and justified, Bustamante moved in Superior Court to reduce his sentence. The trial justice denied the motion, and the Supreme Court affirmed, denying and dismissing the appeal.
Remand instructions
The case was remanded to the Superior Court following affirmance of its judgment; no substantive additional instructions were provided.