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Supreme Court No. 2007-209-Appeal. (PM 04-2108)

Craig C. Price v. Ashbel T. Wall.

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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Rhode Island Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Opinion Analyst, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 250 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, at Telephone 222-3258 of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published.

Supreme Court No. 2007-209-Appeal. (PM 04-2108)

Craig C. Price v. Ashbel T. Wall.

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Present: Goldberg, Robinson, and Indeglia, JJ. OPINION Justice Goldberg, for the Court. This case came before the Supreme Court on

November 2, 2011, pursuant to an order directing the parties to appear and show cause why the issues raised in this appeal should not summarily be decided. The applicant, Craig C. Price (Price or applicant) was convicted, after a jury trial, of one count of criminal contempt and sentenced by the Family Court1 to twenty-five years at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI), ten years to serve and the remaining fifteen years suspended, with probation.2 Price appealed the judgment to this Court, and in April 2003, this Court affirmed his conviction in State v. Price, 820 A.2d 956 (R.I. 2003). Price next filed an application for postconviction relief in the Family Court on August 23, 2004, and a hearing was held on September 22, 2004. The application was denied in its entirety on February 14, 2005. Price is before the Court pro se on appeal from the denial of his

1

The Chief Judge of the District Court was sitting by designation as the trial justice in the Family Court. He also presided over the case currently before the Court.
2

In 1998, Price was found to have violated the terms of his probation in this case. The trial justice consequently revoked seven years of applicants suspended sentence, which resulted in an increase to seventeen years to serve, with the remaining eight suspended. -1-

application for postconviction relief.3 Having carefully reviewed the memoranda submitted by the parties and the arguments of counsel, we are satisfied that cause has not been shown; thus, the appeal may be decided at this time. We affirm the judgment of the Family Court. Facts and Travel On September 21, 1989, when he was just fifteen years old, Craig Price admitted committing four brutal murders, by multiple stab wounds and blunt-force trauma. It was

undisputed that he "exhibited an unusual homicidal fury in the manner of killing his victims," including two young girls.4 Price, 820 A.2d at 959 n.1. The brutality of these offenses shocked the community. Because he was a juvenile, Price was committed to the custody of the Rhode Island Training School (Training School) until his twenty-first birthday.5 Based on the vicious

3

The Court extends its appreciation to Prices standby counsel for her efforts in this case.

4

"At his hearing on September 21, 1989, [Price] admitted that he had committed all four murders and agreed with the findings of the medical examiner that the murders of Jennifer Heaton, Melissa Heaton, and Joan Heaton all had been done by multiple stab wounds and bluntforce trauma. He further admitted to the murder of Rebecca Spencer, which resulted from multiple stab wounds. In effect, [Price] exhibited an unusual homicidal fury in the manner of killing his victims." State v. Price, 820 A.2d 956, 959 n.1 (R.I. 2003).
5

Since these horrific events in 1989, this Court has been confronted with numerous cases involving Craig Price. In 1994, we held that the Family Court had broad power to initiate contempt proceedings against any individual, juvenile or adult, who acted in defiance of a lawful order of that court. See generally In re Price, 645 A.2d 488 (R.I. 1994). In 1996, we held that Rhode Island courts possess inherent power to impose, in their reasonable discretion, such penalties for contempt as they deem appropriate--and consequently that the Family Court could sentence Price for criminal contempt to the extent deemed appropriate in the trial justices discretion. See generally State v. Price, 672 A.2d 893 (R.I. 1996). In Bouchard v. Price, we heard an appeal concerning a wrongful death action brought against Price by the state General Treasurer and the family members of Prices victims. See generally Bouchard v. Price, 694 A.2d 670 (R.I. 1997). In 1998, Price appealed his convictions for simple assault and extortion, which he committed while confined at the Training School, and we affirmed the convictions. See generally State v. Price, 706 A.2d 929 (R.I. 1998). In 2003, Price was before the Court on appeal from the contempt conviction, which we affirmed in its entirety. See generally State v. Price, 820 A.2d 956 (R.I. 2003). -2-

nature of the killings and the fact that these crimes were unprovoked, the Family Court justice directed the Training School to provide intensive psychiatric treatment for Price with the goal of rehabilitation and return to the community. However, Price consistently refused to participate in treatment; his excuse was that he feared that by disclosing information relating to the murders, he could subject himself to civil commitment proceedings pursuant to the Mental Health Law. The applicant maintained that his privilege against self-incrimination, under both the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1, section 13 of the Rhode Island Constitution, prohibited the Family Court from compelling his participation in the treatment program. Undaunted, the Family Court persisted in its efforts toward Prices rehabilitation; on February 15, 1990, April 26, 1990, October 25, 1990, October 24, 1991, October 22, 1992, and October 19, 1993, the court issued orders requiring applicants compliance with the treatment program. Price persisted in his refusal to cooperate. On June 27, 1994, the Chief Judge of the Family Court determined that applicant, who was twenty years of age, was in civil contempt of the orders of the Family Court. Price was ordered to be held at the ACI until such time as he would submit to the treatment program and, in so doing, purge himself of contempt; but in no event was he to be held longer than one year.6 In yet another act of defiance of the Family Court, applicant met with a psychiatrist in August and September 1994, and, according to the

We are now passing on Prices collateral attack on his contempt conviction. This Court is mindful that it has been over two decades since the Family Court first declared Price delinquent based on his commission of four murders. He has been imprisoned since 1989--over twentytwo years.
6

At this point, applicant was serving a sentence at the ACI for an unrelated felony crime. See Price, 706 A.2d at 930-32. -3-

psychiatrist, Price lied to him about his role in the murders.7

The Family Court justice

consequently denied Prices motion to purge himself of civil contempt, and the state filed a complaint in the Family Court, charging Price with criminal contempt in accordance with G.L. 1956

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