RI Supreme Court Orders New Hearing For Little Compton Killer

LITTLE COMPTON, RI — Jeremy Motyka, the workman found guilty of raping and murdering Angela Spence-Shaw in 1999, wants his conviction and sentence overturned. Now, he will have another shot at an appeal, the state Supreme Court has decided. In 2001 Motyka was sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder charge. For the first-degree rape, he was sentence to life.

Tuesday, the court said Motyka should be given a new lawyer, a new hearing and another chance to appeal his conviction. Part of the reason was procedural. Because he was sentenced to life without parole, he should have been entitled to a post-conviction evidentiary hearing, and he has not yet received one, the court said. His constitutional rights were also at issue.

Motyka argued he had not been given a chance to be heard.

In 2014, when he applied for post-conviction relief and was given a hearing, Motyka said he had been 'tongue-tied' in court. He tried to submit his writing as an alternative, but that was not accepted. He also said his lawyer failed to do proper "discovery and investigation," according to the court papers.

"He also avers that the hearing justice erred in dismissing the following claims contained in the application for postconviction relief at issue: (1) actual innocence; (2) prosecutorial misconduct; (3) double jeopardy; (4) insufficient jury instructions; (5) ineffective assistance of trial counsel; (6) ineffective assistance of appellate counsel; (7) abuse of judicial discretion; (8) violation of his due process rights; and (9) violation of his equal protection rights."

So, now the case goes back to Superior Court.

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