Supreme Court Judges holds Tempest’s release

By News Staff

news@abc6.com

A Supreme Court Judge ordered a temporary stay Tuesday that keeps a man who had his conviction in a 1982 murder overturned behind bars.

Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg ordered the temporary stay of the Superior Court judgement as well as the granting of bail for Raymond "Beaver" Tempest, Jr.,until the full five-member court can consider the matter.

Tempast had his bail set Friday at $100,000 and was to be given home confinement but the state filed a motion Monday to stay the decision last month by Superior Court Associate Justice Daniel A. Procaccini to vacate Tempest’s murder conviction and his decision to grant him bail pending retrial. 

The Supreme Court will now consider the state's motion and petition on September 17. 

Tempest was found guilty in 1992 for the 1982 murder of the 22-year-old Doreen Picard in Woonsocket.

Tempest lawyers claimed such new evidence came to light such as false or coerced testimony at the original trial and new DNA evidence that found that hair clutched in the victims hand was not Tempest’s.

(C) WLNE/TV 2015