Darren Gomes v. State of Rhode Island

Citations

• 161 A.3d 511
• 2017 WL 2485093
• 2017 R.I. LEXIS 80

Syllabus

The applicant, Darren Gomes, appealed from the Superior Court's denial of his application for postconviction relief. Gomes argued that he had been denied the effective assistance of counsel at the violation hearing and that he did not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily admit a violation of probation. When reviewing Gomes's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, the Supreme Court focused on the prejudice prong of the Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984), test and held that the postconviction-relief hearing justice appropriately determined that Gomes was unable to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a competent attorney would have been successful at the violation hearing and that, had Gomes been competently represented, the probation violation hearing justice would not have found him to be a violator. The Supreme Court agreed that there was ample evidence in the record for the hearing justice to find Gomes to be in violation of the terms and conditions of his probation. Furthermore, the Supreme Court held that the record clearly demonstrated that Gomes's rights concerning the hearing and the effect of his waiver were adequately explained to him and that his admission was made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. The Supreme Court's review of the record revealed that the postconviction-relief hearing justice found that, at the violation hearing, the Superior Court engaged in an appropriate colloquy with Gomes before the violation hearing justice determined that he had violated his probation. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.