PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) _ Rhode Island‘s highest court has upheld the murder conviction of a Pawtucket man who killed a woman he feared would implicate him in another crime.
Deaven Tucker was sentenced to life in prison following his 2010 conviction for the 2006 shooting death of 24-year-old Jennifer Duarte.
Prosecutors say he shot Duarte nine times four times in the head because he feared she would implicate him and his girlfriend in another killing in Florida.
Tucker appealed, saying evidence of the Florida killing should not have been admitted as evidence in Rhode Island, the trial judge erroneously denied his motion for a mistrial, and the prosecutor made inflammatory comments during closings.
The Rhode Island Supreme Court in its decision Friday called Duarte‘s death a “cold-blooded, ruthless execution” and rejected Tucker’s arguments.
