State v. Lambert
Rhode Island Supreme Court
705 A.2d 957 (1997)
- Written by Angela Patrick, JD
Facts
Michael Lambert (defendant) and William Page tied up a homeless man and beat him to death. The two later hung out with a group of people. Page told the group that the two had beat up an old man. Lambert then told the group that they had hit the man in the head with a gun and a tube. The two also made other statements to the group about the crime. Lambert was arrested and tried for murder. At trial, one of the members of the group conversation testified about what Page and Lambert had said during that conversation. Other than the two initial statements, the witness could not always precisely remember whether Page or Lambert had made a specific statement and sometimes generally attributed statements to both of them. Lambert objected to the witness’s testimony about what Page had said and about anything that was not clearly something Lambert had said. The trial court ruled that Lambert had adopted the admissions made by Page and allowed the testimony. The jury convicted Lambert of murder. Lambert’s request for a new trial was denied, and he appealed. On appeal, Lambert argued that testimony about Page’s statements should have been excluded.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lederberg, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
