.png)
Cogitator Jan 30, 2013
Superior Court Associate Justice Daniel Procaccini
VISITING ROTARIANS/GUESTS
None.
BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
Warm happy birthday wishes from the club this week go out to Bob Sloan (February 2nd).
ROTARY ANNIVERSARIES
Also on February 2nd, our club salutes two long-serving Rotarians, each with a special connection to the Rotary Foundation. Past President George Popella, now in the club for 31 years, has for many years been our club’s leader in putting together and administering Paul Harris teams. Meanwhile, Will Yoder, inducted 43 years ago, is one of our club’s two ‘Major Donors’ to the Rotary Foundation, having been awarded ten Paul Harris Fellowship Awards.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
*Jean-Ann McGrane, CEO of Girl Scouts of RI sent a nice note of thanks to the club for our support throughout the years.
*Dave Iannuccilli, President of the East Greenwich Rotary Scholarship Fund, received two thank-you notes from scholarship recipients Taylor Christie and Jenna Denice.
*Bill TenEyck reminded everyone to ‘get your tickets now, and get your money in’ for the club’s big 50th Anniversary Gala on March 23rd at the Crown Plaza in Warwick, noting that ‘we will sell out the event.’
*Speaking of the 50th Anniversary event, Pat Lenihan will be holding a committee meeting Thursday February 7th, 8am, at her Coldwell Banker office.
*Matt D’Agenais is handling program advertising sales for the 50th Anniversary commemorative program. Please see Matt for more details about pricing and ad sizes.
*President Ken Colaluca has been invited to the Cardiac Olympics being held in Atlanta this May. The only problem? It may conflict with our Wine Tasting event, which will likely be scheduled for May 17th!
*Judy Pratt gave an update on Chub Clement who is still in the ICU unit of Rhode Island Hospital. He is slowly recovering and still can’t have visitors, but cards and well wishes are certainly welcome. Chub’s wife Florence also thanked the club for the flowers we sent, noting that Chub really appreciated them.
PROGRAM/SPEAKER
Superior Court Associate Justice Daniel A. Procaccini
Daniel Procaccini is one of 21 associate justices serving on Rhode Island’s Superior Court. He attended LaSalle Academy, University of Rhode Island, and Suffolk Law School where he graduated n 1977. Before his appointment to the Superior Court bench in 2001, he was a trial lawyer for 20 years. He is a past president of the RI Trial Lawyers Association and has served as town solicitor for his current home town, East Greenwich.
Judge Procaccini thanked Ken Colaluca and Jodi Gladstone for the invitation to speak, and he also praised former Senator Michael Lenihan for his many years of service and camaraderie.
He spoke of the enjoyment, honor, and the great privilege of serving on the highest trial court in Rhode Island. There are three simple things which affect each decision he makes: 1) the law; 2) the facts; and, 3) his conscience. Judge Procaccini has seen some very high-profile cases in the past 11 years, and each time he has applied those factors to arrive at what he best believes to be just and proper resolutions.
Interestingly, most of his cases are non-jury trials. His reputation for fairness may have something to do with this, since those standing before him must decide upon whether to be tried by a jury of their peers, or, whether Judge Procaccini will have the ultimate say.
The judge also remarked that several fellow judges tend to pass on certain difficult trials. This, he asserted was most likely due to the small nature of our state and the familiarity judges may have either with defendants or potential witnesses. Judge Procaccini praised our little state for its commitment to life tenure for its judiciary. Standing for popular elections every few years in such a close-knit community would probably make it harder for judges to ignore their ‘constituents’ who helped them get elected. This of course could potentially cloud their consciences when deciding on critical matters.
Judge Procaccini shared some insight into several recent high visibility cases. He told us that the Greenburg case in Barrington, in which a drunken teenage boater hit and killed his friend, was a particularly difficult and emotional one for the town, the families involved, and the local Barrington police department.
He touched on the recent Beacon Mutual felony theft case, in which he dismissed all charges brought by the Attorney General’s office. He presided in the case of John Whiting, Chief of Police in North Providence, who was sentenced to prison for stealing money from an exotic dancer and then passing the money to a Pawtucket patrolman. He also recently sentenced the son of a Providence police officer after the son maliciously slashed and disfigured another teenager’s face outside of a downtown Providence nightclub.
Judge Procaccini has been married for 30+ years to wife Kellilee. He is also an adjunct professor at Roger Williams School of Law in Bristol.