Opinion ID: 1479679
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Robbery of the Store

Text: Defendants Nichols and Long were indicted for robbing Thomas Suave, an employee at G & H Station. Suave testified that defendants stole money belonging to him personally as well as funds from the station. The defendants argued that because the indictment referred only to Suave as the victim, testimony regarding money stolen from the store was improper. However, we have held that any circumstance that is incidental to or connected with the offense may be received when it is interwoven with the offense for which the defendant is being tried, or directly supports a finding of guilty knowledge in the perpetration of that offense. State v. Ryan, 113 R.I. 343, 349, 321 A.2d 92, 95 (1974). We find that the robbery of store property was interwoven with the offense for which the defendants were being tried and is therefore admissible. We accordingly affirm the trial justice's denial of the motion to preclude references to funds stolen from the service station. The defendants' appeal is denied and dismissed, the judgment appealed from is affirmed, and the case is remanded to the Superior Court.