Opinion ID: 2063439
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: is defendant denied his right to effect an appeal by reason of the alleged loss of portions of the trial court record?

Text: Under this heading defendant makes a number of rather vague claims that various portions of the trial court record and proceedings are lost or otherwise unavailable for review. An examination of the record presented to this court indicates beyond any doubt that the entire transcript of testimony given at the trial itself and the record of the first motion for new trial have been furnished and made available at state expense to defendant and his counsel as well as to this court. It should be noted that defendant was represented by Charles Rogers, Jr., Esquire, during the trial and during the first motion for new trial. Thereafter, at subsequent motions for new trial, defendant was represented by John Cicilline, Esquire. He is represented on appeal by Paul DiMaio, Esquire. At oral argument appellate counsel suggested that portions of the trial transcript might be missing. Our inquiry and examination of the five volumes of the trial transcript clearly indicate that no portion of the trial transcript is missing and that the five volumes constitute a complete transcript of all the evidence set forth at the trial. The only portion of the record not furnished to this court appears to be that of the evidentiary hearing held in support of the new trial motion that was filed on October 21, 1977, and denied on November 2, 1979. At oral argument counsel for defendant was unable to state with any degree of certainty whether a transcript of this evidentiary hearing had been ordered by his predecessor counsel and, if ordered, whether it had been in fact delivered. The state's brief contains in its appendix one page of what appears to be a posttrial examination of Dr. Wendell Coston, and FBI technical expert who testified at the trial concerning scientific testing of the clothing of defendant and of Thomas Firth. Also defendant has included in the appendix to his brief the trial justice's written decision on said motion. Assuming, without deciding, that appellate counsel desired a copy of the evidentiary portion of that hearing on motion for new trial, we cannot find any contention or assertion that he unsuccessfully applied to the court stenographer who recorded such hearing for such a transcript. In this connection it should be further noted that on June 26, 1975, the trial justice granted leave to defendant to appeal in forma pauperis. Therefore, all transcripts furnished were without charge to defendant or to his attorney. Consequently, there seems to be no basis for the contention that defendant was denied any portions of any transcript which he or his counsel should find to be necessary or desirable in the prosecution of his appeal. Additionally defendant claims that a number of exhibits that were introduced at the trial are now missing as a result of their having been introduced into evidence at the trial of Thomas Firth, who was also charged with the murder of James Dunn. The only exhibit to which the defendant specifically refers in his brief is a newspaper article published in the Evening Bulletin on November 13, 1974, and in the Providence Journal on November 14, 1974. Although defendant claims that he was unable to obtain a copy of this article, the state's brief sets forth in its appendix a copy of an article which purports to be that to which defendant has made reference. A comparison of this article with descriptions and quotations from the transcript establishes beyond doubt that this is the article of which complaint is made. The defendant offered no explanation either in his brief or at oral argument for his failure to obtain a copy of this article from the Providence Journal or from the assistant attorney general who tried the case. A complete list of all exhibits introduced at the trial is set forth in volume I of the trial transcript furnished to counsel and to this court. Absent a demonstration of inability to obtain a particular exhibit, which is required to support a contention raised on appeal, we are of the opinion that defendant has established no factual predicate in support of this issue.