In 2020, his murder conviction was overturned. The RI Supreme Court just upheld the decision.
PROVIDENCE – The state Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a 2020 ruling overturning a Providence man’s murder conviction.
The high court rejected the state’s arguments that then Superior Court Judge Netti C. Vogel erred when she vacated Miguel Tebalan-Rivera’s conviction for second-degree murder and committing a crime of violence while possessing a knife, as well as his 60-year sentence, in December 2020.
Vogel found that Rivera’s trial lawyer violated his rights when she discouraged him from testifying that he stabbed 36-year-old Julio Francisco Perez to death in self-defense, thus virtually guaranteeing his conviction. Vogel concluded, too, that the “conduct of the officers was illegal, outrageous, and abusive” because the officers continued to question Rivera long after he repeatedly asked for a lawyer.
In upholding the ruling, the Supreme Court agreed that lawyer, Susan B. Iannitelli, misinterpreted the effect on Rivera’s case after Vogel refused to dismiss the case mid-trial.
“It is our view that, in light of all the circumstances, trial counsel’s failure to advise Rivera that, after the motion to dismiss was denied, he would be convicted if he did not testify, fell outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance,’” Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell wrote for the court.
“As Rivera highlights, 'once [a] defendant introduces some evidence of self-defense, the burden of persuasion is on the prosecution to negate that defense beyond a reasonable doubt,'” the court said.
Suttell the court is satisfied that Vogel – who resided over Rivera’s bench trial – had “ample evidence before her to find a reasonable probability of a different outcome under this standard, thus undermining confidence in her original verdict.”
The court heard arguments in January, with Christopher Bush arguing for the state and Kara Maguire representing Rivera.
Rivera reveals his actions were in 'self defense'
On Dec. 23, 2015, officers found Perez’s body in a third-floor apartment in the city's Elmwood section after Tebalan-Rivera frantically ran into Providence Police headquarters, screaming in Spanish that he’d killed his friend, according to police.
Rivera stated in his pre-sentence report that Perez was an intimidating man who enjoyed humiliating him. He said he stabbed him to defend himself after Perez lunged at him and strangled him to the point of unconsciousness.
The state unsuccessfully argued that Vogel was wrong to consider Rivera’s unsworn statements
Rivera told the court at his sentencing in 2019 that he grabbed the knife after Perez grabbed his throat and threatened to kill him. Rivera accused Perez of failing to pay him for work. Both men came from Guatemala.
Rivera continued to profess that he “this wasn’t something that I wanted to do in my thoughts,” but rather “[i]t was simply that he came after me, he grabbed me by the throat, and then I defended myself.”
Vogel observed afterward that the case had proceeded “as though it was presented as a plea, but the only one in the room who didn’t understand that was the [d]efendant,” according to Tuesday’s ruling.
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After a two-day bench trial in 2018, Vogel found Rivera guilty of murder and committing a crime of violence while possessing a knife with a blade longer than three inches. She sentenced him to 60 years, with 50 to serve.
On Dec. 30, 2020, Vogel granted Rivera’s application and vacated his conviction and sentence. Then-Rhode Island Public Defender Lara Montecalvo and Jeffrey Peckham represented Rivera in his bid for relief in Superior Court.
A status conference in the case is scheduled for July 31 before Superior Court Judge Richard Raspallo.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI court upholds overturning of Miguel Tebalan-Rivera's murder conviction
