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« Lt. governor seeking details on long-term care changes | Today | Strong voter turnout expected in Mass. and Conn. » February 5, 2008Update: Judge reconsiders delaying 'gap kids' dismissalPROVIDENCE -- A Superior Court judge now says he will hold a hearing tomorrow to determine whether he should put on hold his decision to dismiss felony charges against so-called "gap kids." Judge Daniel A. Procaccini Jr. this morning announced that he is dismissing felony charges against so-called "gap kids," defined as 17-year-olds who were charged as adults during a brief window this summer and fall when those teens were considered adults in the courts. Procaccini had also said he would put the decision on hold for 20 days, pending an appeal by the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office, but he is now reconsidering that hold at the request of the Office of the Public Defender. Procaccini has scheduled a hearing for 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Judge Procaccini earlier announced that he is also holding in abeyance the indictment against a Barrington teen charged in the boating fatality last summer, pending a hearing in Family Court. Ryan Greenberg has been charged with second-degree murder and underage possession of alcohol in the July death of Patrick Murphy, 17, on the Barrington River. A short-lived law enacted last July treated 17-year-olds accused of crimes as adults. The move was intended to save money since it's typically less expensive to house someone at the state prison than at the Rhode Island Training School. The law was repealed in November after lawmakers realized that it wouldn't save money. The state's public defender has led efforts to return the teens to Family Court. But the attorney general's office says it would create chaos to apply the change retroactively. In the conclusion of his decision today, the judge says: "The Legislature’s short-lived decision to subject seventeen-year-olds to Superior Court jurisdiction was constitutional in all respects. The manner in which this decision was implemented, however, failed to consider the entire statutory scheme conferring jurisdiction upon the Family Court."
Posted by Jack Perry CommentsDan | February 5, 2008 4:12 PM link Swell let them all go and give these kids another year to commit more felonies until they all turn eighteen. We'll catch them then to do real time. I hope that during this new "gap" they don't hurt someone you love during the commision of a felony type crime. Pray its someone else's loved one. L.Tidal | February 5, 2008 9:31 PM link My belief about this situation is that it's gotten completely out of control. I was one of the seventeen year old kids arrested in the "gap time" between laws being changed and getting changed back. I believe that the state of Rhode Island needs to stop worrying about money and begin to worry about the well being of their residents, especially teens. Because of the law that was passed for such a short time, I was not allowed to see or speak to my family or even step foot into my house for months. Apparently the state thinks it is easy for a seventeen year old kid to make it on his own, but from experience I know it is not. You can not get yourself an apartment, you can't get a real or good paying job, and there's no way to have enough money saved up by then to make it on your own. I would appreciate my record being cleared when I turn eighteen because of the fact that next year I'll be on my way to college trying to start all over. That might be sufficiently hard if all an employer or teacher has to do is type my name in online to see all of the negative things I've done in my life. I believe that all seventeen year olds in my predicament should have clear records on their eighteenth birthdays, the way it would have been without the changing and changing back of a ridiculous law. larry | February 5, 2008 11:06 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
Thats typical Rhode Island for you....Who is surprised anymore, from the Governor to the judges to the plow truck driver. Every thing is a scam....I just wonder when Rhode Islanders will get tired of taking a beating. Rhode Island is for suckers.