PROVIDENCE Xavier Vidot was 17 when authorities alleged he shot his mother’s boyfriend to death at the home they shared on Edgewood Avenue in Cranston.
When Vidot was 19, a Superior Court judge sentenced him to serve 24 years, plus a consecutive life term, in prison for second-degree murder in the killing of aspiring rapper Valdez Loiseau.
A lawyer for Vidot on Tuesday asked the state Supreme Court to overturn that conviction, arguing that the prosecutor impermissibly introduced expert evidence about gunplay in closing arguments as well as purported testimony from a witness who was never called to the stand.
“There is a man’s life hanging in the balance,” Ferenc Karoly said.
Rhode Island Supreme Court s First Black Justice Is Sworn in Superior Court Judge Melissa A. Long was sworn in on Monday during a small ceremony on the State House steps
Published January 11, 2021 •
Updated on January 11, 2021 at 5:46 pm
Rhode Island Superior Court
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has its first Black justice.
Superior Court Judge Melissa A. Long was sworn in on Monday during a small ceremony on the State House steps presided over by Chief Justice Paul Suttell. Every day, when I arrive at the courthouse, I will recommit to taking the time to understand the stories of those whose cases come before me, and to appreciating that those stories matter. …. I will uphold my solemn duty to enhance the public s belief in our judicial system, she said.
Published January 12. 2021 12:31AM
PROVIDENCE (AP) The Rhode Island Supreme Court has its first Black justice.
Superior Court Judge Melissa A. Long was sworn in on Monday during a small ceremony on the State House steps presided over by Chief Justice Paul Suttell.
“Every day, when I arrive at the courthouse, I will recommit to taking the time to understand the stories of those whose cases come before me, and to appreciating that those stories matter. .. I will uphold my solemn duty to enhance the public’s belief in our judicial system,” she said.
She thanked those who have inspired her, including Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson, the first African American and the second woman to sit on the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Thompson urged Long to apply for the seat, she said.