State v. Justin Chandler

Syllabus

The defendant, Justin Chandler (Chandler), appealed from a judgment of conviction in the Superior Court following a trial at which the jury found him guilty of conspiracy, murder in the first degree, felony assault, discharge of a firearm when committing a crime of violence, and two other firearms offenses. On appeal, Chandler argued that the trial justice abused her discretion in erroneously admitting text messages from his girlfriend, in violation of Rules 802 and 403 of the Rhode Island Rules of Evidence. The Supreme Court held that the admission of the text messages was unduly prejudicial and constituted error. The Court further held that the cautionary instructions given at trial were insufficient to guard against the prejudicial taint of the text messages and that the admission of the messages was not harmless error. Accordingly, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment of conviction and remanded the case to the Superior Court for a new trial.