State v. Andrew Smith

Syllabus

The defendant, Andrew Smith, appealed from a judgment of conviction following a jury verdict of guilty for possession of child pornography in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-9-1.3(a)(4). On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial justice erred in (1) precluding him from making an opening statement to the jury (2) wrongfully instructing the jury that the parties had stipulated that the images in question met the definition of child pornography when there was no such agreement on the record and (3) denying his motion to suppress the fruits of a search of his computer because, he alleged, the judicial officer who signed the search warrant was not authorized to sign a warrant. After thoroughly reviewing the record, the Supreme Court held that the trial justice erred by summarily denying the defendant, who produced no witnesses at trial, the opportunity to deliver an opening statement without first inquiring of the defendant about the specific nature of his defense in order to determine whether the defendant intended on eliciting affirmative evidence on cross-examination of the state's witnesses. Accordingly, the Court vacated the judgment of the Superior Court. Having vacated the judgment of the Superior Court on the basis of the defendant's first argument, the Supreme Court did not reach the other issues raised by the defendant on appeal.