Summary
The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s order vacating Raymond Tempest’s murder conviction and quashed the writ of certiorari. The court held that the former prosecutor deliberately suppressed favorable pretrial statements by witness Donna Carrier, constituting a Brady violation that warranted postconviction relief.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the prosecutor's deliberate failure to disclose Carrier's new pretrial statements violated Brady and Rhode Island due-process principles.
- Whether deliberate suppression of favorable impeachment evidence requires post-conviction relief without a separate showing of materiality.
- Whether the Superior Court clearly erred in finding that the suppressed statements were new, favorable impeachment evidence and that the prosecutor deliberately suppressed them.
Holdings
- The prosecutor deliberately suppressed Carrier's pretrial statements by making a considered decision not to disclose them to the defense.
- Evidence that is facially inculpatory may nevertheless be favorable Brady evidence when it can be used to impeach a prosecution witness.
- Under Rhode Island law, when the prosecution's nondisclosure is deliberate, materiality is not germane; the defendant is entitled to a new trial or equivalent post-conviction relief.
Key quotations
“When the failure to disclose is deliberate, this [C]ourt will not concern itself with the degree of harm caused to the defendant by the prosecution’s misconduct; we shall simply grant the defendant a new trial.” (683)
“Impeachment evidence as well as exculpatory evidence, falls within the Brady rule,” (685)
“The outcome * * * hinged on whom the jury believed.” (687)
“When the state exceeds those confines, it must suffer the consequences.” (687)
Factual background
Tempest was convicted of murdering Doreen Picard after a 1982 attack in which Picard was killed and Susan Laferte was seriously injured. The State's largely circumstantial case included testimony from four witnesses who claimed that Tempest confessed, including Donna Carrier. Shortly before trial, Carrier gave the prosecutor new statements suggesting that Tempest's brother had hidden the murder weapon and that Tempest's children were excited about receiving a puppy, but the prosecutor noted that the information was "too late" and should not be volunteered. The statements were not disclosed to the defense, and the post-conviction hearing justice found that the nondisclosure was deliberate and warranted relief.
Procedural history
Tempest was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 and sentenced to eighty-five years in prison; this Court affirmed the conviction in 1995. In 2004, he applied for post-conviction relief and sought forensic testing of physical evidence. After an extended hearing, the Superior Court granted relief and vacated the conviction based on two Brady violations and a due process violation arising from police witness-coaching practices. The State obtained certiorari review, and the Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court's judgment and quashed the writ.
Remand instructions
The materials associated with the case may be remanded to the Superior Court. The opinion does not provide additional retrial instructions.