State to appeal ruling to give convicted killer new trial - Top Stories - NorwichBulletin.com

                    


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            Tuesday, May 14, 2002

            State to appeal ruling to give convicted killer new trial
            Prosecutors plan to ask the state high court to let the jury's 
            guilty verdict stand.
            By KATIE MELONE
            Norwich Bulletin


            ROCKY HILL -- A state's attorney confirmed Monday she will appeal an 
            Appellate Court ruling that overturned a guilty verdict against Ryan 
            Thompson, a Plainfield teen convicted of manslaughter in the 
            shooting death of a fellow teen-ager at a party in Moosup. 
            Joy K. Fausey, a deputy assistant state's attorney in the Appellate 
            Bureau of the Chief State's Attorney's Office, said she plans to 
            file a "petition for certification" within the next two days. 
            The petition will ask the Supreme Court to overturn the Appellate 
            Court's ruling, which cited "prosecutorial misconduct" that may have 
            tainted the jury's verdict in the Thompson conviction. 
            "We are petitioning the Supreme Court to convince them to hear the 
            appeal," Fausey said. 
            Thompson, 22, has been in prison since April 22, 1998, when he was 
            arrested and charged with murder in the shooting death of 
            17-year-old Robert McCaffery. After a four-week trial, Thompson was 
            convicted of manslaughter on Jan. 27, 2000. 
            But last month, the state Appellate Court reversed the conviction, 
            ordering a new trial. 
            The deadline for filing paperwork to appeal that Appellate Court 
            decision was Monday, but Fausey filed a motion requesting an 
            extension of the deadline. 
            Fausey said she expects the extension to be granted, but said the 
            Supreme Court often rejects petitions for certification. If the 
            petition is denied, Thompson still would face a new trial on the 
            manslaughter charge, Fausey said. 
            If the court approves the petition to hear her appeal on the 
            Appellate Court's recent ruling, Fausey said she likely would 
            address the court's claim that Dooley engaged in prosecutorial 
            misconduct. Fausey declined to discuss specific arguments she would 
            make in the motion for the appeal. 
            The court's 19-page decision to overturn Thompson's conviction 
            focused on Dooley's closing statements. His closing argument "so 
            infected the trial with unfairness as to make the resulting 
            conviction a denial of due process and a deprivation of the 
            defendant's right to a fair trial," Appellate Judge Joseph Flynn 
            wrote. 
            Thompson's father, Scott Thompson, said he and his family expected 
            the state to file the appeal. 
            "It doesn't change our feelings about what is going on," Scott 
            Thompson said. "We still believe in our son's innocence." 
            But, the victim's mother, Nancy McCaffrey, says the state's motion 
            to appeal is not of much importance for her son's alleged killer 
            because he will be retried whether or not it is granted. "He's still 
            a convicted killer," she said. "He's going to be found guilty 
            again." 
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            Thompson