State v. Walker

667 A.2d 1242, 1995 R.I. LEXIS 276, 1995 WL 744767
Supreme Court of Rhode Island·Decided December 12, 1995·No. 92-248-C.A.·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BOURCIER, Justice.

This is the defendant Calvin Walker’s appeal from his May 27, 1987 convictions, after *1244 jury trial, in the Newport County Superior Court.

Facts and Case Travel

On November 14, 1986, Calvin Walker (Walker) was indicted by the Newport County grand jury on nine counts ranging from burglary to first-degree sexual assault. A jury, after trial, on May 20, 1987, returned guilty verdicts on all counts, except on the one count of burglary. On that count, Walker was found guilty of the lesser included offense of breaking and entering with intent to commit larceny.

The various charges all stemmed from Walker’s nocturnal activities during the early morning hours of July 22, 1986. Dexter and Mary Coffin had come to Newport to enjoy their usual summer vacation in the friendly city by the sea. For that purpose they had rented a fashionable home on Bellevue Avenue and had as their houseguests, their two adult children, their granddaughter, two friends, and their maid. At about 2 a.m. on July 22, while the Coffins and their guests were asleep in their vacation home, quite appropriately named “Summer Wind,” an ill wind blew in an unexpected intruder, the defendant Calvin Walker. We believe, as did the Newport jury, that Walker did not come to Summer Wind for social reasons. He had with him two realistic-looking plastic guns and a knife, which he promptly put to their intended use. He awakened the Coffins, threatened to kill them, bound their mouths with duct tape, robbed them and after binding their hands with telephone cord, proceeded to go from room to room, robbing and assaulting the remaining houseguests. One of those guests he forced into a bedroom and raped.

After completing his reign of terror through Summer Wind, which took place over a period of several hours, Walker then asked the Coffins and their guests, all of whom had been bound, taped, and ordered into one area, to tell him the location of the home wherein they were located. He was told that Summer Wind was between the Beechwood and Marble House mansions. Walker then telephoned for a taxicab to come to the Summer Wind residence and explained to the taxicab dispatcher where it was located. When the taxicab arrived, Walker, with his loot, consisting of a varied assortment of jewelry and money, left Summer Wind and told the unsuspecting taxicab driver to drive him to Providence. After Walker left, the Coffins were able to untie and free themselves, notify the Newport police of their nightmare, and describe the intruder.

Walker, in the meantime, after an uneventful taxicab ride into Providence, paid his fare and tipped the driver with some of the stolen money. He then promptly registered at the nearby Biltmore Hotel, once again using stolen money to pay for a room.

Shortly thereafter, while Walker was enjoying his stay in room 816 at the Biltmore Hotel, some unexpected guests dropped in to see him. Five Providence police detectives who had learned of his whereabouts came to visit. Walker was arrested and returned to Newport, charged, and held.

Having noted earlier that Walker was tried and later convicted on May 20, 1987, the circumstances regarding the approximately six-year time span from the time of filing his appeal to the certification of his trial record to this court mandate our inquiry.

I

The Appeal Delay

The defendant Walker, as noted earlier, was convicted after jury trial on May 20, 1987. On June 8, 1987, his motion for new trial was denied, and he was thereafter, on July 30, 1987, sentenced. Walker’s counsel filed a timely notice of appeal and ordered the trial transcripts as required by Rule 10 of the Supreme Court Rules of Appellate Procedure. Shortly following the trial, Nancy Seal (Seal), the trial court stenographer, left Rhode Island without transcribing her trial notes. As a result Walker was not able to obtain the necessary trial transcripts, and the delay in perfecting his appeal commenced. After several months of unsuccessful attempts to locate Seal, the state enlisted the aid of the Rhode Island State Police to assist in locating her. The State Police ultimately found Seal in Florida and were able *1245 to obtain the original trial and pretrial hearing stenographic notes.

Another court stenographer was assigned to transcribe Seal’s stenographic notes and encountered difficulty in so doing. On December 2,1988, the trial justice, after having been informed of the transcription difficulties, directed trial counsel to attempt to reconstruct certain unavailable portions of the record in accordance with Supreme Court Rule 10. Counsel collaborated with the court stenographer to reconstruct the record. All parties were able to come to agreement on the jury selection and jury trial records but were unable to agree upon and to reconstruct and transcribe the record of the pretrial motion and suppression hearings. Counsel for Walker and the state were able to stipulate concerning the jury selection and trial record, as transcribed by the court stenographer, and those agreed upon records were filed with the trial court.

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State v. Walker, 667 A.2d 1242, 1995 R.I. LEXIS 276, 1995 WL 744767 (R.I. 1995).

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