Criminal Division

The Office of Attorney General is constitutionally charged with the responsibility of prosecuting all felony criminal offenses occurring in the State of Rhode Island, all misdemeanors criminal cases brought by the Rhode Island State Police Department of Environmental Management police officers, and all misdemeanor cases appealed to the Superior Court.

The Criminal Division is comprised of 70 prosecutors and 79 support staff, including paralegals, secretaries, victim advocates, investigators and financial auditors. These individuals work together to assist the Attorney General in fulfilling his Constitutional obligation. Cases are prosecuted by attorneys assigned to the general criminal trial calendar and through specialized units focusing on white-collar crime, narcotics and organized crime, firearms offenses, juvenile offenders, domestic violence, sexual assault, Medicaid fraud, elder abuse and traffic safety.

Prosecutors disposed of 4,943 cases at the pretrial conference stage of the case, with plea dispositions accounting for 87% of the disposed cases handled throughout the State.

Intake Unit prosecutors in Providence County review all cases for felony screening and grand jury presentations and negotiate case dispositions through the pre-arraignment calendar. Prosecutors assigned to trial calendars and specialized units focus on trial preparation, handling cases from the pretrial stage through to disposition. A county prosecutor travels to each of the county offices to handle all felony screenings for Kent, Newport and Washington Counties. Statewide Grand Jury presentations are handled by various prosecutors from throughout the Division.

Superior Court Prosecutors are designated to act as liaisons to each of the 44 law enforcement agencies in the State in order to provide legal assistance. During the weekend, prosecutors also rotate coverage to handle violator presentments.

In 2010, the Providence Intake Unit reviewed 4,234 packages for felony charging through both the Providence County Grand Jury (325) and the Information Charging Unit (3,909). Grand Jury presentations in Providence County increased by 74 cases in 2010. The County offices also screened 2,097 felony packages for charging, increasing the amount of reviewed packages by over 100 cases over 2009 (1,995).

The Division proceeded to file Criminal Informations and Indictments with Superior Courts in 5,543 felony cases, an increase over the previous year by over 300 cases (5,220 in 2009). Prosecutors handled 553 more dispositions of felony cases statewide this year, disposing of 5,410 cases (4,867 in 2009). The Criminal Division handled 251 new misdemeanor appeal filings (210 in 2009) and also disposed of 265 (201 in 2009) pending misdemeanor appeals in the Superior Courts. Prosecutors handled a total of 109 (69 in 2009) new Applications for Post Conviction Relief, with decisions being reached in 50 (38 in 2009) of those matters in 2010.

Division prosecutors disposed of 4,943 cases at the pretrial conference stage of the case (4,335 in 2009), with plea dispositions accounting for 87% of the disposed cases handled throughout the State. In 2010, Division prosecutors, with the assistance of the White Collar Crime Unit, brought hundreds of financial crimes cases to disposition, with Court ordered restitution totaling over $3.5 million to be returned to victims.

During 2010, the Criminal Division brought 96 cases to trial, securing 87 verdicts and convicting 57% of the defendants who opted to have their cases tried before a judge or jury. Of those cases tried, 50 of the defendants were found guilty of their offenses and 37 were found not guilty by a jury of the State’s allegations. The jurors in 3 Superior Court trials were unable to reach a verdict and 6 trials resulted in a mistrial.

Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor

Federally funded, the Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor (TRSP) oversees the prosecution of all alcohol-related driving accidents, law enforcement training and community outreach for motor vehicle issues, and assists the Department of Transportation with highway safety public policy and education initiatives.

The Zero Fatalities Program is an underage drinking program held prior to prom and graduation season where high school juniors and seniors are brought to the prison to see firsthand the dangers of reckless conduct and drinking and driving. Last year, more than 300 students participated in the program.

In 2010, the TRSP d eveloped and presented a number of motor vehicle related training programs for law enforcement officers, and city and town solicitors. Topics of the presentations included racial profiling and the motor vehicle stop, courtroom preparation, obtaining medical records in the prosecution of DWI cases, prosecution of the observation case, and how to obtain a warrant in a DWI death resulting cases, among others.

The TRSP also assisted in the development of the Zero Fatalities Program (ZFP) with the Dept. of Transportation, Department of Corrections, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and the Rhode Island Family Court. The ZFP is an underage drinking program held prior to prom and graduation season where high school juniors and seniors are brought to the prison to see firsthand the dangers of reckless conduct and drinking and driving. Students hear from young inmates serving long jail sentences for DWI death resulting cases and hear from the parents of young victims killed in DWI crashes.

The TRSP is invol ved in all stages of the prosecution of motor vehicle crash cases. One of the goals of the program is to have early involvement and provide assistance to law enforcement at the time of the crash. In this capacity, the Office of the Attorney General provides a great resource for police departments in their initial decision making process and in obtaining warrants for evidence in criminal cases. In 2010, the TRSP reviewed approximately 70 fatal and serious injury motor vehicle accident cases. If the offense rises to the level of criminal negligence, the TRSP prosecutes the cases for the Office of Attorney General.