First-Degree Sexual Assault Charge Dismissed and Sealed in Rhode Island
Criminal Charges:
Man charged in the Rhode Island District Court (6th Division) for:
- First Degree Sexual Assault, in violation of RIGL § 11-37-8.1
City, State, County and Court:
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Providence County
Rhode Island District Court (6th Division)
Case Overview:
After meeting a man online, a young woman elected to have a small, late-night birthday celebration at her home. The woman invited her female friend to the party, as well as the new online fling, who brought along his male friend. The two women and two men celebrated on the porch of the woman’s home, mainly by consuming alcohol and smoking marijuana. At some point, the online man’s friend needed to use the bathroom. The female host offered to show him the way inside her apartment. The two emerged sometime later. The people who remained on the porch described the female host as appearing disheveled, in a state of shock, unclothed, and with seminal fluid on her face. The man exited behind her, and said it was time to leave. The men then left, and the women remained behind. The host told her friend she was raped in the bathroom by the online man’s friend. She called the police and filed an immediate report. Unfamiliar with the assailant’s name, police aided the woman with identifying a suspect using social media. Once the woman made an identification, police arrested a Massachusetts man and extradited him to Rhode Island. The man next appeared in Rhode Island District Court (6th Division) where he was charged with one count of First-Degree Sexual Assault or rape, a capital crime punishable by up to life in prison under Rhode Island criminal law. The Court ordered the man held without bail at his arraignment pending the outcome of an evidentiary bail hearing. The man’s family, including his aunt who is a Massachusetts criminal prosecutor, retained Rhode Island Sex Assault Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this very serious matter.
Case Result: Dismissed and Sealed.
Attorney Calcagni requested an immediate bail hearing on his client’s behalf. In preparation, Attorney Calcagni prepared a bail memo highlighting his client’s U.S. Citizenship, employment, family support, community ties, clean criminal record, and cooperation with police at the time of his arrest. Most importantly, Attorney Calcagni presented Rhode Island prosecutors with evidence of his client’s alibi and argued that the charge was the product of mistaken identity. After the man served several weeks in jail, Attorney Calcagni persuaded the Court to release the man on bail. In the following months, the man voluntarily provided a DNA sample authorities to be compared with DNA collected during a sexual assault examination of the victim at the hospital, after her report to police. Absent a match in DNA and the strong alibi and character evidence, authorities elected to dismiss the case against the man. This matter is now eligible to be sealed from public record.