Michael Bell v. State of Rhode Island

OPINION

Chief Justice SUTTELL,

for the Court.

On a summer’s evening in June 2007, a group of young people assembled at Murphy Field in the City of Newport, not to play baseball, but to watch a fist fight. The pugilists were two young men, one from the City of Newport, and the other from the Town of Middletown. Michael Bell (applicant) was a spectator, along with several of his friends. A brawl broke out among the onlookers. Mr. Bell armed himself with' a baseball bat, allegedly to defend a female friend who he thought was being threatened. In the aftermath of this melee, Bell was charged with…