Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Rhode Island Supreme Court on Monday again reinstated the conviction of Jason Ferrell in connection with the 1995 murder of John D. Carpenter, the 26-year-old son of then-state Rep. Marsha E. Carpenter.

Now-retired Superior Court Judge Stephen J. Fortunato Jr. vacated Ferrell's conviction in January 2007, saying that he had received ineffective assistance of counsel from now-disbarred lawyer Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr., who represented him at his trial. He also cut Ferrell's 40-year prison term in half.

But the high court ruled Monday, in an appeal by the state, that Fortunato had erred in what he'd done and reinstated Ferrell's conviction on charges of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to assault with intent to murder and assault with intent to murder.

In a decision authored by retired Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, the court said that Ferrell had already argued his case against Bevilacqua in a prior proceeding -- which resulted in Fortunato reversing Ferrell's conviction and the Supreme Court reversing Fortunato.

Williams said that Ferrell should have included all of his allegations against Bevilacqua when the Superior Court first took up his petition in 2005, and that he hadn't presented any compelling evidence to show why the court should revisit this issue.

He "could have and indeed should have raised this issue in his first application for postconviction relief," said Williams. Bevilacqua, who is now serving a federal prison term for shaking down drug dealers, admitted in sworn statements that his representation of Ferrell was faulty. But in 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that it was good enough.

Williams said it was difficult to understand exactly why Fortunato had agreed to take up Ferrell's complaints against Bevilacqua for a second time.

"In the instant matter, the motion justice simply indicated, in a completely conclusory manner, that justice required him to reach applicant's allegation of ineffective assistance of counsel. Despite so stating, he completely failed to articulate a rationale as to why this claim could be litigated," wrote Williams.

The court also said that since Fortunato threw out the convictions -- which if upheld would have led to a new trial for Ferrell -- he should not have simultaneously considered Ferrell's motion to reduce his sentence. It referred the matter of sentence reduction back to the Superior Court with a directive that a new judge consider Ferrell's bid to reduce his 40-year sentence.

It was Acting Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg who imposed the 40-year sentence on Ferrell when she was a Superior Court judge. She did not participate in Monday's decision.

In his initial application for post-conviction relief, Ferrell argued that Bevilacqua was negligent in handling alibi evidence that he claimed might have won him an acquittal.

In his new petition -- the subject of Monday's Supreme Court ruling -- he alleged that Bevilacqua had asked him for money to pay the costs associated with his representation of Gahil Oliveira in another criminal case. Oliveira, a close friend of Ferrell, was a co-defendant in the Carpenter murder case and is now serving a life sentence for that slaying. The other defendants convicted in the case were Jermaine Campbell, Robert McKinney and Pedro Sanders.

Fortunato concluded in his January 2007 decision that because Bevilacqua had both Ferrell and Oliveira for clients -- even though in separate cases -- "the attorney was faced with conflicting allegiances and was, in a sense, serving two masters." Fortunato said that Bevilacqua's representation of Oliveira prevented him from engaging in effective plea-bargaining on behalf of Ferrell and led to an unsuccessful trial strategy.

 Tags  Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr. murder Providence RI

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