State v. Victor Tavares

Syllabus

The defendant, Victor Tavares (defendant or Tavares), was convicted by a jury on two counts of first-degree sexual assault in violation of G.L. 1956 §§ 11-37-2 and 11-37-3, and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault in violation of G.L. 1956 § 11-1-6. Tavares raised twelve issues for the Supreme Court's review. Several issues raised by Tavares were either not preserved in the Superior Court or inadequately developed on appeal. As such, consideration of those issues was waived.<br><br>The Court did consider Tavares's allegations that: (1) the General Assembly did not have the constitutional authority to enact the criminal laws upon which defendant was convicted (2) certain Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure were not followed (3) the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred the state from prosecuting the defendant (4) the rule of consistency barred the state from prosecuting the defendant for conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault and (5) the voir dire of certain jurors was improperly conducted in open court. With respect to those issues, the law was well settled and did not support Tavares's allegations of error. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of conviction.