Opinion ID: 2381416
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Rhode Island Decisions Regarding Right to Appointed Counsel

Text: The Rhode Island constitutional analogue to the Sixth Amendment guarantee of the right to counsel is found in article I, section 10, of the Rhode Island Constitution. This section protects a defendant's right to assistance of counsel in terms almost identical to those of its federal counterpart: In all criminal prosecutions, accused persons shall    have the assistance of counsel in their defense. In 1971, prior to the Supreme Court's rulings in Argersinger and Scott, this provision was interpreted in State v. Holliday, 109 R.I. 93, 280 A.2d 333 (1971). In Holliday, this Court prefaced its conclusions by noting that there had been no precise guidance from the United States Supreme Court on whether the United States Constitution requires that defendants charged with misdemeanors be provided with counsel. Id. at 97, 280 A.2d at 335. In the absence of such guidance, we construed article I, section 10, broadly to require appointment of counsel for indigent defendants charged with misdemeanors that carry a potential prison sentence in excess of six months, even if no imprisonment is actually imposed. Id. at 98-99, 280 A.2d at 336-37. We have not been asked, until now, to reexamine our holding in Holliday since the United States Supreme Court rendered its decision in Scott. On two occasions, this Court has uncritically followed its holding in Holliday, namely, in State v. Moretti, 521 A.2d 1003 (R.I. 1987), and in State v. Medeiros, 535 A.2d 766 (R.I. 1987). In Moretti, the defendant had been convicted of arson after the admission of evidence of several previous misdemeanor convictions that was used to impeach Moretti. On appeal, Moretti challenged the admission of the prior convictions, arguing that he had not been assisted by counsel when these convictions occurred. 521 A.2d at 1009. We acknowledged our holding in Holliday, but nevertheless decided the issue in favor of the state because there had been no positive representation by Moretti that he had been unlawfully denied counsel. Id. at 1010-11. We had no occasion in Moretti to rule on the validity of Holliday in light of Argersinger and Scott, nor did we in Medeiros, where we were again asked to reverse a conviction on the basis of the trial justice's admission of prior uncounseled misdemeanor convictions to impeach the defendant's credibility. We determined that Holliday would not work to invalidate Medeiros's conviction because any error on the trial justice's part in admitting the convictions was harmless. Medeiros, 535 A.2d at 769. In Holliday this Court had no means of ascertaining the direction that the Supreme Court would take, and it is clear that our prognostication in Holliday was inaccurate. Holliday did not anticipate that the Supreme Court's test would be incarceration rather than potential punishment. Indeed, Holliday did not meet the requirement of counsel in cases of incarceration, however brief that confinement would have been, that was set forth in Argersinger and Scott.