Providence
Assault with a Deadly Weapon with Intent to Commit Murder
Just before midnight on June 14, 2004, Hector Rivera attacked his pregnant girlfriend and stabbed her repeatedly in the neck, chest, hip, hand, and wrist. Other apartment dwellers found her heavily bleeding and unconscious in the hall, and she was transported to Rhode Island Hospital, where she remained in a coma for more than a week but subsequently recovered.
Providence police entered the apartment Rivera and his victim and their 11-month-old child shared, and found three knives covered in blood, as well as blood stains on hallway walls, doorknobs, the laundry room, and other apartment doors left by the victim during her search for help.
Police arrested Rivera the day after the attack, and he was indicted on August 20, 2004 on one count of assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house with the intent to commit murder and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with the intent to commit serious injury.
On October 25, 2005, Rivera pled guilty to one count of assault with a dangerous weapon with the intent to commit murder before Associate Justice Mark A. Pfeiffer in Providence County Superior Court. Justice Pfeiffer sentenced him to 30 years in prison, with 13 years suspended with probation. The Court also prohibited Rivera from having any contact with the victim.
Reference: State of Rhode Island Department of the Attorney General. "Providence Man Sentenced to 30 Years, with 17 Years to Serve, on Domestic Assault Charge." News Released dated October 26, 2005.
Felony Assault [Pawtucket]
Richard Andrade's girlfriend was pregnant and he didn't want her to have the baby. So, on July 5, 2002, Andrade repeatedly punched her in the stomach after she refused to have an abortion, according to police.
Detective Lt. John Clarkson said "We were told that Mr. Andrade punched his girlfriend several times in the stomach. The woman then went to Women and Infants Hospital and lost the child. We were able to determine that Mr. Andrade was responsible for the assault. We got warrants for his arrest."
When Andrade realized that police were after him, he ran. He was found near Worcester, Massachusetts, when police stopped him and checked on their computer, a check that turned up the arrest warrant and demands from the court for his appearance there.
He was arraigned in Worcester as a fugitive from justice.
Andrade faces the charge of felony assault, based on a review of the evidence by prosecutor Stacey Veroni.
By Rhode Island law, a person can be charged with murder if they deliberately act in a way that results on the death of a fetus if the pregnancy is so advanced that the child would have survived on its own if it was born at that moment.
Case law has set that at about 23 weeks of pregnancy.
Reference: Kevin O'Connor. "Police Say Man Beat Pregnant Girlfriend." The Pawtucket Times, March 3, 2003.
Assault and Death Threat
Pro-lifers were picketing outside the Women's Medical Center abortion mill when a pro-abortionist attacked Raymond Dempsey, tearing his picket sign out of his hands, hitting him with it, and threatening to kill him. The pro-abort was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and was found guilty of the charge.
References: "America is Protesting Abortion ... Despite Death Threats, Assaults." ALL About Issues, November 1983, page 5; Global Report. "Victory in Court in Rhode Island." ALL About Issues, July 1984, page 28.
Hate Crime
In Johnston, Rhode Island, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church set up a statue of Jesus on its own property. The statue has a prayer inscribed on it reading "Let us pray for an end to abortion."
This was perhaps the most inoffensive possible display that could be erected against abortion — but it was too much for pro-abortionists, who resent any opposition to abortion, and would dearly love to stamp it all out.
In March 2004, pro-abortionists spraypainted the statue with the words "Anti-choice nazis." They coated the statue with the black paint and wiped out the passage asking for prayers to end abortion.
Police classified this act as a hate crime. Police Chief Richard Tamburini said "There's no question it's a willful and malicious act. This is not a child's prank. We'll do everything we can to prevent this from happening again. We're not letting this just disappear."
Rhode Island state law defines a hate crime as "any crime motivated by bigotry and bias, including but not limited to threatened, attempted or completed acts that appear after investigation to have been motivated by racial, religious, ethnic, sexual orientation, gender or disability prejudice."
References: Steven Ertelt and Maria Gallagher. "Pro-Life Displays at Catholic Churches in Florida and Rhode Island Vandalized." LifeNews.com, March 24, 2004; Steven Ertelt and Maria Gallagher. "Pro-Life Displays at Catholic Churches in Florida and Rhode Island Vandalized." LifeNews.com, March 24, 2004; "Pro-Life Displays at Catholic Churches in Florida and Rhode Island Vandalized." Steven Ertelt's Pro-Life News Report at http://www.lifenews.com, March 25, 2004; "Church Attack to be Considered Hate Crime." Boston Globe, March 29, 2004.
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| This document was updated on June 26, 2006. |
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