Defense attorneys deny weapons evidence in crime lab controversy

PROVIDENCE – A lawyer's motion asks prosecutors to provide any reports, texts or “any other writings” that cast doubt on the reliability of certain firearms-related evidence from the state's crime lab, “no matter how minor,” the motion says.

Another motion filed Thursday afternoon in another murder case seeks comprehensive background information on all laboratory personnel involved in the “tool-mark investigation” in that case.

In practice, toolmark analysis is used to determine how inspectors determine whether a particular bullet or cartridge case came from a particular weapon.

Court filings underscore confusion caused by crime lab collapse at RI trials

Motions filed in the Supreme Court indicate that defense attorneys are puzzled by the strength of such evidence in light of recent disclosures regarding work on toolmarks at the Rhode Island State Crime Lab.

On September 3, the crime lab announced that it had stopped analyzing toolmarks, admitting that the examination had failed to meet standards in “a single case.” The state was in the process of finding other agencies to perform toolmark examination.

Shortly thereafter, a spokesman for Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha said investigators at the Rhode Island lab and their counterparts at Boston Police had reached a different conclusion regarding tool marks on bullet casings in the same 2021 murder case.

The analysis in Massachusetts found that markings on certain cartridge cases could be attributed to a different weapon than the one that Pawtucket police had submitted for laboratory analysis as part of the case.

Rhode Island's Attorney General says the state has identified 20 ongoing cases affected by the irregular data

Earlier this week, Neronha told WPRI the state had narrowed its concerns due to a “specific technology issue.”

The state is having the evidence re-examined in 20 specific cases. That is fewer than the 50 cases that were previously considered.

The motions show that some defense attorneys, preparing for trials in the coming weeks, are concerned about how evidence will be handled and want detailed information. The Providence Journal has asked Neronha's office for comment on the motions.

Rhode Island Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers President Kara Hoopis Manosh said the association looks forward to “learning more about the details underlying this closure so that we can best protect the rights of those accused of gun offenses.”

“To date, no such information has been shared with the criminal defense community,” she said.

In the trial of the defendant accused of murdering a URI student shot on Olney Street in Providence, “tool marks” are crucial as evidence

Attorney William C. Dimitri filed a motion earlier this month to schedule a Sept. 23 trial in Shawn Mann's case.

Man charged with murder of Miya Brophy-Baermann The Warwick woman, a University of Rhode Island graduate, was shot and killed in August 2021 while chatting with a friend on Olney Street after a late-night party.

Both Mann and another defendant, Isaiah Pinkerton, who was already convicted in the case, were arrested months later in 2022.

The analysis of tool marks played an important role in the case against Pinkerton.

At the crime scene, investigators recovered two 9 mm cartridge cases and a fragmentation bullet from Brophy-Baermann's car.

Then, in late 2021, Providence police found Pinkerton as a passenger in a Hyundai during a vehicle stop.

According to prosecutors, police found a ghost gun in a backpack that was thrown out of the car. A laboratory analysis later showed that this weapon was linked to the cartridge cases from the crime scene.

However, toolmark analysis was not the only connection between Pinkerton and the gun. The gun was swabbed for DNA evidence and tests confirmed the presence of Pinkerton's DNA on the gun, prosecutors say.

Dimitri declined to comment on the case against Mann.

In his motion to the Supreme Court, he asks Neronha's office to provide comprehensive background information on any lab the state plans to work with to conduct toolmark analysis, whether in the Mann case or any other case – “regardless of how minor the problem or issue may be.”

Two men will appear in court on October 15 for the shooting death of a 19-year-old Massachusetts woman.

Another Providence attorney, Philip F. Vicini, is the author of an eight-page motion in Marklyn Brown's case.

Brown is among those accused of opening fire near a nightclub in 2019, killing Berta Pereira-Roldan of Massachusetts, a passerby celebrating her 19th birthday.

Vicini's motion was filed with the court late Thursday afternoon and seeks the release of information ranging from copies of any toolmark analysis licenses or accreditation certificates the lab holds, to logs, and copies of all records documenting the collection, handling and storage of toolmarks.

Vicini's motion states that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors must turn over any evidence that could favor a defendant.

“The information must be turned over to the defense regardless of whether the prosecutor believes that the information will make the difference between conviction and acquittal of the defendant for a crime with which he is charged,” the motion states.

Defense attorneys deny weapons evidence in crime lab controversy

Court filings underscore confusion caused by crime lab collapse at RI trials

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