State v. Justice Andrade

Citations

• 209 A.3d 1185

Syllabus

The defendant, Justice Andrade, was found guilty by a jury of first-degree murder, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and carrying a firearm without a license. On appeal, the defendant (1) argued that the admission of the statements he gave to the police when he voluntarily turned himself into their custody a few days after Ty-Shon Perry was killed was a violation of his Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights (2) asserted that his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel was violated because, he contended, his trial counsel maintained an actual conflict of interest throughout her representation of him (3) challenged the admission of testimonial and photographic evidence suggesting his affiliation with known Providence gangs and (4) challenged specific portions of the jury instructions given to the jurors prior to their deliberation as well as the trial justice's decision not to include two specific instructions defendant had requested. The Supreme Court held that the trial justice did not err when he denied defendant's motion to suppress the statements he made to the police after turning himself into their custody because the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is not implicated until formal criminal prosecution begins and there was no indication of a Fifth Amendment violation. The Court also held that the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel was not violated by his trial counsel's representation of another defendant in an unrelated incident despite the personal connection between this other defendant and one of the state's eyewitnesses. With respect to the admission of testimonial and photographic evidence of gang affiliation, the Court held that the defendant's arguments were waived for failure to preserve the challenge to this evidence during the trial. Finally, the Court held that the defendant's respective arguments regarding the jury instructions were also waived because the defendant had not preserved the argument for appellate revie