Who's who in Rhode Island Superior Court: Get to know the judges

With its wide jurisdiction, Rhode Island's Superior Court stays quite busy.

The court oversees all felony proceedings, civil cases in amounts of over $10,000 and, according to the court's website, matters of equity in Rhode Island. The court also hears all civil and criminal appeals coming up from Rhode Island District Court, and any appeal of a decision made in Superior Court goes all the way up to Rhode Island's Supreme Court.

Here's a look at some of the judges who sit on Rhode Island's Superior Court:

Presiding Justice Alice Bridget Gibney

Joined the court in: 1984, and was named presiding justice in 2009 by Gov. Donald Carcieri

Notable cases: She spent much of her judicial career handling civil cases, many of which were medical malpractice lawsuits. Gibney also signed the warrant for Warwick police to search the home of 15-year-old Craig Price in 1989. That warrant led to Price's prosecution as a serial killer, after the police learned he murdered four of his Warwick neighbors.

Salary: Gibney, a West Warwick native whose son, Nicholas Parrillo is seated on District Court, earns $248,486 with longevity.

Judge Robert D. Krause

Joined the court in: 1986, and is second-in-command to Gibney

Notable cases: Krause presided over former Warwick Police Detective Jeffrey Scott Hornoff's 1996 first-degree murder conviction in the bludgeoning death of his lover, Victoria Cushman. Hornoff was cleared in 2003 after another man, Todd J. Barry, admitted to the killing.

Since 1995, Krause has overseen many of the state's most violent cases and doled out some of the lengthiest sentences in the first-in-the nation Gun Court. The cases include a 2012 triple homicide in Providence and others involving gang shootings.

Salary: $225,897 annually, with longevity.

Judge Melanie Wilk Thunberg

Joined the court in: 1987.

Notable cases: Thunberg presided over Institute for International Sport founder Daniel E. Doyle Jr.’s 12-week trial, thought to be the longest criminal trial in the state’s history. Thunberg sentenced Doyle to serve seven years in prison for embezzling more than $1 million from the nonprofit institute.

She is now overseeing former North Kingstown coach Aaron Thomas’s trial for allegedly molesting two athletes while performing “fat tests” on them.

Salary: $225,898 annually with longevity.

Judge Stephen P. Nugent

Joined the court in: 2000, after being nominated by Gov. Lincoln Almond

Notable cases: In 2022, Nugent made headlines for ordering the release of three men under the Youthful Offenders Act, a law passed so people serving long sentences for crimes they committed before they turned 22 would have a chance to seek release after 20 years. The state argued before the state Supreme Court in April  that the law – colloquially referred to as Mario's Law after one of the youthful offenders – applies only to people who have committed a single offense and not those sentenced for multiple crimes. People facing more than one sentence should be paroled only to begin serving their next sentence, prosecutors said. The high court has not yet ruled in the case.

Salary: $225,897 annually with longevity.

Judge Daniel A. Procaccini

Joined the court in: 2001, after 24 years as a trial lawyer

Notable cases: Procaccini oversaw the lengthy post-conviction case of Raymond D. “Beaver” Tempest Jr. Procaccini ruled that Tempest, the son the former Providence County high sheriff, was entitled to a new trial in the 1982 bludgeoning death of a former homecoming queen because prosecutors had violated his right to a fair trial by coaching witnesses, failing to disclose evidence and suppressing key details about a witness’ changing statements.

He also oversaw the state's prosecution of Ryan A. Greenberg, a Barrington teen accused in the boating death of a friend after a day of drinking. Procaccini made headlines for criticizing the Barrington police for selectively enforcing underage drinking laws.

Salary: $225,897 annually with longevity.

Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear

Joined the court in: 2003.

Notable cases: Lanphear presides over the newly-created “Land Use Calendar,” overseeing disputes over zoning, neighborhood issues.

Lanphear ruled in favor of the developers of a proposed expansion to Champlin's Marina in the Great Salt Pond on Block Island that a coalition of opponents fought against for nearly 20 years. Lanphear ruled that the mediated settlement of that 18-year battle was "created with propriety and [is] sufficiently conclusive."

Marina opponents denounced the ruling as the "secret backroom deal" made in a South County hotel room. It was struck down by the Rhode Island Supreme Court.

As a lawyer, Lanphear fought the alleged pollution of the Pawtuxet River by chemical plant Ciba-Geigy. Lanphear was also the State House lawyer for legislative Republicans for 21 years.

Salary: $225,597 annually with longevity.

Judge William E. Carnes Jr.

Joined the court in: 2007, nominated by Gov. Donald Carcieri

Notable cases: Carnes presided over defense lawyer Donna Uhlmann’s hard-fought trial for allegedly bribing a witness not to testify in an assault case. A jury acquitted Uhlmann, who continues to practice law, and Jamaal "Dub" Dublin of all charges. A separate jury convicted then-lawyer Gerard H. Donley of obstructing the judicial system by bribing a witness not to testify that Dublin stabbed him.

In 2011, Carnes oversaw the trial of Kimberly Fry, a North Kingstown mother accused of strangling her 8-year-old daughter, Camden, in August 2009 after the two battled during bath time. A jury convicted Fry of second-degree murder and Carnes sentenced Fry to 40 years in prison, with 20 to serve.

Salary: $219,374 annually with longevity.

Judge Kristin E. Rodgers

Joined the court in: 2009 and assists Krause in handling some of the state’s most violent cases in the state's Gun Court. She is the daughter of former Superior Court Presiding Justice Joseph F. Rodgers Jr., who swore her in.

Notable cases: Rodgers presides over high profile gun cases, including the criminal case against Joseph M. Lancia., the purported president of the state chapter of the Hells Angels. Rodgers sentenced Lancia, of Smithfield, to serve five years in prison after he admitted to felony assault and carrying a gun without a license for firing at a vehicle outside the West Side clubhouse. In addition, Lancia received 10 years of probation.

She oversaw the trial of Shaylyn Moran and Jack Doherty, a young couple who gunned down the mother of her former boyfriend and then boasted about it on social media. Moran pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison. Doherty received two consecutive life sentences.

Rodgers served on the Senate Discovery Task Force, created by the legislature in 2018 to establish standardized best practices to ensure diligent and timely disclosure of evidence in criminal cases.

Salary: $208,927 annually with longevity.

Judge Brian P. Stern

Joined the court in: 2009. He was the chief of staff to Gov. Donald Carcieri before being nominated to the bench by his boss.

Notable cases: Stern oversees the judiciary’s business calendar.

He recently presided over the bitter legal dispute involving the storied Chace family that pitted cousin against cousin. The matter reached an undisclosed settlement last month as a trial imminently loomed.

In 2017, Stern oversaw the heartbreaking and horrifying murder trial of Christian Lepore, who beat to death craftsman John "Jake" O'Neil in the West Greenwich woods on May 28, 2016. Stern found Lepore not guilty by reason of insanity after a five-day bench trial. He concluded that Lepore was experiencing a psychotic breakdown at the time of the killing and was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of his actions.

Salary: $225,897 annually with longevity.

Judge Brian Van Couyghen

Joined the court in: 2010 after being nominated by Carcieri.

Notable cases: Van Couyghen presided over the lawsuit brought by eight acrobats injured in a fall that sent them hurtling to the Dunkin' Donuts Center floor in 2014. The women reached a $52.5 million settlement with the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority and the company that manages the center through mediation.

In 2017, Van Couyghen ruled in favor of a woman whose late husband laid claim to land as a "hobby." The judge found that Karen F. Carroll and her late husband, Francis, exercised "actual, open, notorious, hostile, continuous and exclusive" use of four lots off Amy Hart Path for more than 10 years − as required under state adverse-possession law. The state Supreme Court upheld that ruling, which cleared the title to 13 acres and freed Carroll to sell the lots.

Salary: $225,897 annually with longevity.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Rhode Island's Superior Court judges: Notable cases, salaries and more