Nature of the Case
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Facts
David Rodriguez (victim); his sister, Jasmine Ward; and their mother, Reina Rodriguez, were socializing and drinking alcohol together in the family's apartment. Ward informed the victim that she had plans later that evening to meet with D, who was her former coworker. The victim's former girlfriend, Kendra Lopes, also had worked for the same company at the same time as D, and the victim was aware that D previously had tried to establish a sexual relationship with Ward and Lopes. Upon learning of Ward's plans to meet D, the victim insisted that Ward instead stay with him that night, and Ward agreed to do so. Ward nonetheless continued sending text messages to D, who had arrived at the apartment complex to meet with her. The victim left the elevator at the first-floor lobby walked toward an entrance to the building and gestured for someone to come inside. D then entered the building and followed the victim into the laundry room. After several minutes, both men left the laundry room, and D appeared to leave the building. Ward started feeling sick and went to the bathroom to vomit. When the victim returned to the apartment, he did not see Ward and did not know where she was. He left the apartment again and went back to the first floor, where he saw D's vehicle drive past the main entrance. The victim ran outside with his cellular telephone in his hand. As he did so, he was shot twice by D; one bullet struck him in the chest, and the other in the right thigh. D quickly left the scene. The victim died before paramedics arrived. D was living at his mother's house at the time of the shooting, D, with his mother, and his sister planned to turn himself in. Rhode Island State Police troopers ordered all three individuals from the vehicle and placed D in handcuffs. Without advising D of his rights one of the troopers asked D, “Where's the gun?” to which the defendant responded, “I threw it off the Braga bridge.” D made several spontaneous statements regarding the shooting before he was left alone in his holding cell. The Commonwealth proceeded on theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty; the theory of defense was self-defense. A state police trooper testified that, in August of 2014, while executing a search warrant at D's mother's home in Rhode Island, officers recovered a locked box in the basement. Inside the box, they found a semiautomatic handgun with a laser pointer attachment, a box of .40 caliber ammunition, and a magazine that contained several rounds of .40 caliber ammunition. Bullets recovered from the victim's body came from the gun found in the box. The lawful owner of the gun, a friend of D who was living in another State, testified that D stole the gun from him. The friend also testified that the laser pointer attachment that came with his purchase of the gun allows a user to see where the gun is aimed. D was convicted of murder in the second degree, as well as possession of a firearm without a license and possession of a loaded firearm without a license. D filed a motion for a new trial on the ground of ineffective assistance of his trial counsel. The motion was denied, and D appealed from that denial.
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